


First Blood

by fluffykitty12



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, Parental Roy, Parental Roy Mustang
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-10
Updated: 2020-12-20
Packaged: 2021-03-08 19:42:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 12
Words: 30,683
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27492121
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fluffykitty12/pseuds/fluffykitty12
Summary: Ed knew he'd signed on to be in the military. Roy Mustang promised himself to look out for those under his command- especially his youngest subordinate. They both get more than they bargained for when Ed's mission out west ends with him being called into a border conflict with Creta. Wounded and sidelined, will Ed be able to come to terms with war and the aftermath? Parental Roy.
Comments: 44
Kudos: 112





	1. Chapter 1

**Hello! Welcome to my new fic, please review, fav and follow. A lot of reviews help me puzzle out where I'm going to take a story next, and I really appreciate and read each and every single one!**

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"What the hell do you want this time?!" Ed was getting thoroughly irritated with Mustang sending him on missions. He knew he'd signed up to be a military dog, but he had just gotten back from settling a land dispute in a backwater town where he'd then been accused of causing the mysterious deaths of livestock that'd been found mutilated in transmutation circles.

It'd turned out to be a local man attempting to sacrifice enough animals to bring back his deceased fiance.

The man had actually managed to create a cheap imitation of the stone Ed had been chasing. But it hadn't been the red philosopher's stone. Instead, it had been a deep emerald- jagged and irregular shaped, the size of a quarter.

But equivalency was, indeed, a bitch. It didn't matter how many animals the man snuck off and slaughtered to create his stone- all that life was just wasted. It wasn't equivalent in value to a human soul.

Ed had been too late. He'd found the man in an abandoned barn, with all the materials needed to try and resurrect his dead fiance.

He'd tried to talk him out of it. He'd explained that there was no equivalency, that in trying to bring back his dead fiance he'd only cause more pain and loss. He'd even told him about what had happened to him and Al.

The man refused to hear it. He'd sobbed, saying it was the only way.

Ed still remembered the ragged way he'd sobbed, clutching the stone to his chest like a lifeline in one hand and placing the other on the array he'd sketched in blood.

_"This is the only way! If this can't bring Elsie back- then let it take me to her!"_

He'd activated the array. The rebound had managed to bring the dilapidated building to the ground. Ed had managed to hit his knees and bring up a small rock dome around himself, shielding himself from the wreckage. From there, the only thing left for him to do was walk through the rubble and find the array. The poor, mishappen thing laying in the middle wasn't human.

And the rebound had nearly killed the alchemist who'd tried it. As it was, he dragged himself through the array towards his creation, blood dripping from his mouth as he wheezed, dragging his mortally injured frame to the center to see his malformed bride.

He'd clung to the abomination and sobbed as much as his broken jaw would allow. Hands that had no skin clawed at him and empty eye sockets gaped upwards as the creature howled inhumanly.

He'd looked up at Ed through his tears, trying his best to speak with his broken jaw. _"Kill us. Please."_

Ed had stepped forward. In doing so, he accidentally kicked the handgun the man had threatened him with towards him, across to the array.

The man scrambled for it, panicked hands picking it up.

"Wait- don't do it!" Ed had shouted.

The man spat a mouthful of blood onto the ground, looking up at Ed with hollow eyes. "We're both already dead. This only ends our suffering. Brings us to the end- together." The man retched- blood spattered the ground in crimson abomination. The man was too badly injured to survive.

Ed said nothing, and the man gathered the gun from the ground, hastily muttering apologies before he put three bullets into the malformed creature's head, silencing the guttural sounds it made.

The man took the gun into his own mouth and pulled the trigger, before he, too, fell onto of his dead creation. The green stone he'd held so close in his hand earlier was now hardly green- instead, it'd turned completely black, with only veins of green cracks throughout it.

Ed had burnt the barn to the ground, and he'd told Al he'd been tying up loose ends when he met him back at the inn and kept tight-lipped about the affair.

He didn't want his brother to know that he was shaken by seeing someone else's quest for the stone go so badly. He'd only become a state alchemist a year ago, but it already seemed like every path on the road he took led to heartbreak.

"Maybe I'm simply expecting your report. You _do_ work for the military, Fullmetal. There's paperwork involved." Roy said patronizingly.

Ed sighed, pulling the crumpled report from his pocket and placing it on the table.

"Really? This may be the military but, we have standards, Fullmetal. Or is your memory running a little _short_ on how we do things here?"

Roy frowned when Ed didn't take the bait, instead taking in the report and skimming through it. There didn't seem to be anything out of the ordinary in it, and he frowned.

"You left something out of this report, didn't you?"

"So what it I did?" Ed barked. "You gonna court martial me?"

"No. I'm going to ask you what happened, and why you feel the need to keep it off the record."

Ed paused, eyeing his superior with distrust, before he placed the blackened stone with cracks of green on it on Mustang's desk.

"How many human transmutations have you seen before?" Ed asked finally.

The question made Roy's mouth go dry. Four. He'd been at four scenes of human transmutations before he'd stumbled upon the Elric brother's basement and seen the bloody aftermath on the cellar floor.

Hamilton Lakes. A man who was trying to resurrect his recently deceased daughter. It'd happened right in Central. The failure had been spectacular- the rebound had killed Hamilton instantly. Both his corpse and his daughter's body, which he'd been using as raw materials, were so badly mutilated they'd had to rely on dental records to identify them.

Percy Schmitt. trying to resurrect his identical twin brother who'd died tragically of an illness. He'd managed to create something- but it wasn't human. It was a corpse that opened milky eyes and gasped, wheezed, and screamed, clawing at it's own throat- but it wasn't human. It'd died within a matter of days. Percy had killed himself later that same week.

Tara Bennett. An aspiring alchemist who'd worked nights to finance her schooling, she'd been working a nightshift as a housekeeper at a hotel when her entire block of cheap tenant housing was struck with carbon monoxide due to a malfunctioning furnace, killing her husband and two children in their sleep.

She'd managed to bring life back into their bodies- but all they did was breathe. Roy still remembered seeing it- her ability to walk had been taken in exchange for the cheap imitation of life she'd been given. He'd seen her legs- now withered and twisted- as she sat in the middle of the circle she'd drawn with the animated corpses of her husband and children, weeping for joy.

"They're alive! They're alive!"

The man and his children both wheezed, sucking air and staring blankly ahead. The resurrected family- unresponsive and seemingly in a vegetative state- had been shipped off to a lab. Tara had been convinced they simply needed to be 'woken up'. She was committed to an asylum later that same year, and was still wandering and convinced her family was alive and well somewhere being kept by the government. They were indeed being kept by the government- not as hostages, but as test subjects- they didn't respond to external stimuli- they were on feeding tubes, catheterized, laying in beds 24 hours a day. Drawing breath and breathing, under medical observation, breathing but not truly alive.

Ray Locke. A man trying to resurrect his infant son who'd died of a fever. The rebound from the transmutation was bloody- it'd broken the man's jaw and scrambled his brains.

Whatever Ray had created wasn't human. Roy still remembered the malformed, lumpy skull of the child- the eyelids fused shut, nose crooked and deformed. He'd found it horribly unsettling how despite it's clear deformities, the child could still open it's mouth and give inhuman screams, and it still had a mouth full of teeth.

The child's limbs were far too skinny- birdlike, almost. Too small to support his weight, with an abdomen too large.

The man's mind had been lost during the transmutation. He'd screamed unintelligibly as his creation had been taken off to the lab- the same lab as the Bennett family, most likely. The man had been found mentally incompetent and was committed to a home for the criminally insane two years later after killing a nurse assigned to care for him and drawing transmutation circles in her blood on the hospital floor.

And then there was the Elrics. Roy could still remember the scene in the absement, the cold dread and fear that'd gripped him. There had been no abomination present- Pinako Rockbell had told him she'd buried the poor creature's remains.

And Ed and his brother were alive. Not whole, but they'd at least survived the transmutation with their minds intact, if not their bodies. They were the luckiest Roy had yet seen.

"Four. I've seen four, Fullmetal." Roy answered finally.

Ed nodded. "And how did they all end?"

Roy frowned. "If I'd thought they'd be of any use to you or Alphonse, I'd have told you about them already." he said harshly.

Ed nodded. "Exactly. There isn't much to tell, is there? We all know how these things seem to end."

Roy reached over, picking up the stone on his desk with interest.

"What's this, then? A philosopher's stone?"

"An attempt at one. It didn't work. It was made using sacrificed animals. At least ten cows, and I don't know how many small animals were killed to make it. But it still wasn't enough. It was all just a waste." Ed hadn't stopped looking at his boots.

Roy sighed. "What did you see, Fullmetal?"

"The same thing I saw the night I tried it. A thing. A thing that wasn't human."

"And the alchemist who tried this?"

"Dead. He was mortally wounded already from the rebound- he put his creation out of its misery and then killed himself."

Roy sighed. It was times like this that he didn't know what to say. "What do you want me to do with this?" he asked, holding up the stone.

Ed shrugged. "Lock it up or destroy it. I don't care. It's energy is gone- but I have a feeling if someone wanted to start sacrificing animals again they could charge it up."

"And you didn't think to try it yourself?"

"There isn't any point. You can't exchange apples for oranges- you and I both know it doesn't work. I could slaughter a million cows, but it would never be equivalent to a human. That stone might be able to resurrect an animal, but even then- it's far too risky just to try to bring back a cat or a dog. And it runs on the blood of other animals. It's hardly useful to any sane person."

Roy nodded, tucking the stone into his dresser drawer.

"So do you have another mission for me or not?"

"I do, but I thought you might want a few days to rest before you go traveling again."

"I'm fine. I'd rather keep moving anyways. Any new leads?"

Roy didn't think he completely believed the teen, but he saw the desperation in Ed's eyes to keep moving, keep his mind busy... He reached over and grabbed a file from the folder of non-challenging missions he'd selected for Edward.

Ed opened it, looking at the name of the city and frowning. "Axhocal? You're sending me all the way to the Western boarder?"

"It's a mining hotspot. Large mine, and a rather remote town. They don't have many qualified alchemists out west. It might be routine and boring for you, but we have inspections to do." Truthfully, the inspection had been something Roy himself was supposed to attend to, but with Ed qualified and their own office audit coming up, he was more needed here. Axhocal was a remote enough town that was friendly with the military- something he was sure Fullmetal was more than capable of handling.

"That's it? Nothing on the stone, no mysterious people out here talking about weird alchemy?"

Roy shook his head. "Not this time. It's a routine mission, I can't always find leads on a legend. It's a coal mine, with some tributaries of gold. The Furher wants to make sure accurate reports of gold harvest are coming in, as well as the quality and crude amounts of coal. Think you can handle it?"

Ed scoffed, stuffing the folder into his pocket. "I could've handled it a year ago right after you gave me my damn watch. I'll leave tomorrow."

"Report to Hawkeye like usual when you arrive."

"Yeah yeah, whatever." Ed waved him off, sulking out the door.

He wasn't in the mood for more bureaucratic bullshit. He had promises to keep- he needed to get Al his body back. But the rational side of his mind won out as he walked back to the dorms, the side saying he needed the military resources if he was going to have any chance at all of helping his little brother.

Still, he didn't have to be happy about it.


	2. The Axhocal Incident

"So anyways, the Bastard is sending me to Axhocal to do some boring mine inspection shit. Annoying, huh?"

"I guess. You do have to do some official things, brother, or they wouldn't keep you in the military." Al said from where he sat in his chair morosely.

"Yeah. Well, if it doesn't have anything to do with the philosopher's stone, then I'm not interested." Ed said, taking a bite of the sandwich he'd brought back to the dorms with him. "Anyways, we're leaving tomorrow." he flopped onto his bed. "What's up with you, Al? You've been quiet. Did one of the strays not show up?" Alphonse had a specific street corner where he left out catfood everyday in central, and whenever one of his regular cats didn't show up, he'd fret about it.

Alphonse shook his helmet, sighing. "No. Winry called. Granny tripped over Den in the hallway, and her ankle is badly sprained."

"Damn midget should've been more careful." Ed said, though there was no real bite behind the words, and he sat up, setting his sandwich aside and looking up at Al. "She's okay though, right?"

Al shook his head sadly. "She's on crutches right now. She's insisting she can still do automail work, and I can see her soldering and keeping her foot up at a desk, but she's having a hard time getting around and doing the heavy lifting. She isn't exactly young."

"No kidding. That little witch is ancient." Ed's eyes roved the room for a moment before he sighed, looking over at Al.

"Look, this mine inspection isn't really a big deal, Al. I can handle it on my own. If you want to go back home and help out Winry and Granny until they're back on their feet, I wouldn't mind."

"Really? You're sure you'll be okay by yourself?" Al didn't look convinced.

"Al- it's a mine inspection- it's not nearly as risky as a lead. I do this stuff all the time. The hardest part is falling asleep on the uncomfortable train seats. When I go to the station to head out to Axhocal tomorrow, we'll buy you a ticket for Risembool. Think of it like a surprise visit."

"Okay." Al had brightened significantly.

Ed was slightly apprehensive- it was going to be a lonely journey to Axhocal without Al- but he reassured himself that he'd be fine- the sooner he got there, the sooner he'd get this whole thing over with.

BREAK

The hardest part about the train ride was, in fact, trying to sleep on the hard benches.

Ed was lucky that a baby started crying right before his stop, waking him up, or he'd have missed getting off in the Axhocal station. For a brief moment he'd woken confused and frantic, wondering why Al hadn;t woken him- only to remember he was alone and that Al wasn't here to watch his back, but he'd be fine.

Axhocal was a pretty small mining town, and he looked around the station tiredly, spotting a young man dressed in blue who looked confused as he approached him.

"I'm the Fullmetal Alchemist." Ed explained tiredly.

"Sir!" The young man, who couldn't have been over 20 himself, snapped to attention and saluted at that instant. "I'm sorry I didn't recognize you, Major!"

"Don't worry about it." Ed brushed off his formal address. "You can call me Fullmetal. All my friends do, anyways." he thought back to Mustang, the smug bastard sitting behind his desk lazing off while he was stuck doing this.

The soldier led him out of the train station, and they started walking down the main street of town.

"I was told not to bring a car because it's only a few blocks walk, Fullmetal, Sir." the private said simply. "I'm private Jennings. My commanding officer is Lieutenant Colonel Yule. We'll get you settled in a room in the barracks, and we can discuss the inspection and when you're going to begin over lunch."

Ed nodded as they approached headquarters- a rather small, one building office- and entered.

"Lieutenant Colonel Yule- the Fullmetal Alchemist has arrived, Sir!"

Lieutenant Colonel Yule was a man of about thirty, with mousy brown bangs over his eyes and black framed round glasses. He smiled when Ed entered.

Ed was looking around the rather small office- everyone's desks were all in this one front room, it seemed- there were about six people who worked here, and Ed paused.

"They stuck a Lieutenant Colonel all the way out here? It's pretty remote."

The man's team- a woman with a brown bob cut and brown eyes, two men with black hair and green eyes who appeared to be brothers, and an older, careworn woman with gray hair who looked to be a secretary- all stopped working and looked up at him.

"No offense." Ed added lamely.

"None taken, Major Elric." The Lieutenant Colonel smiled and stood, crossing the room in a few strides. "I grew up out here. So when I was offered a chance to come back, I definitely took it. Mining is the lifeblood of this town- my team and I run a pretty tight ship here in regards to paperwork and making sure all the products are accounted for. A large amount of gold- and taxes, by extension- are harvested here, so the government is a little more generous as far as manpower."

"Jennings- show him his accommodations."

"Yes, sir." Ed was led down a hallway to a room three doors down- it was sparse but adequate, with the typical metal framed military bed and dark green blankets.

There was a desk in the corner, and a single window that let in a lot of sunlight. The hardwood floor was very clean, and Ed looked around and nodded in satisfaction.

"Is everything to your liking, Fullmetal, Sir?" Jennings sounded slightly nervous.

"Huh? Oh- yeah, it's great." He tossed his suitcase on the bed, giving Jennings a smile, and the man seemed to relax.

"I'm glad you like it. We don't have many high-ranking visitors, our barracks are just rooms in the building, but the Lieutenant Colonel made sure we cleaned it all last week when we heard you'd be coming. Are you interested in lunch? We were going to have stew..."

Ed allowed himself to smile. "Sounds great. Let me wash up and I'll meet you in the office."

Ed ducked back into the office to find the brown haired soldier standing with what looked to be her double in civilian clothes, holding a large steaming pot and several bowls.

"You're just in time for lunch!" the female soldier beamed. "I'm Krista, and this is Lita- my twin sister. She works over at the town's only restaurant, so she comes by to give us lunch early before all the miners come in and it gets busy."

"Nice to meet you." Ed nodded to the woman, thanking her for the bowl of stew.

Lunch seemed to be a communal affair in this office- they didn't really have a mess hall, but everyone- the Lieutenant Colonel included- pulled their chairs into a circle in the center of the room and ate together.

"I should probably introduce you to the team, Major. You've met private Jennings- private Krista Oclum, Sargent James Spoke, and his Cousin, Private Henry Spoke- and Captain Julia herself."

Ed found himself surprised that the gray haired woman who he'd assumed to be a secretary, with her careworn face and smile lines, was a Captain. James and Henry had dirty blonde hair and while their eye color was different- green to blue- they had identical jawlines and smiles. Krista's bob haircut and warm brown eyes reminded him of Hawkeye a bit, and Ed found himself settling in and getting to know the team.

The spoke boys lived in a large three story farmhouse a few miles out. Krista lived with her sister and sister's husband above the town's restaurant. Jennings was the son of the town's tailor, and Julia lived with her older brother, who ran the town's post office.

"Before I even got stationed here, Captain Julia was running the place. Even now, she keeps us all in good working order."

Everyone smiled and agreed with that statement.

"So I take it the room is to your liking? I know it isn't much, but we don't really have a lot of resources besides manpower out here." the Colonel asked, eyes searching Edward.

"No, it's great- as long as there's a bed, I'm happy. Some places don't take to military much- any night when I don't have to sleep outside is a good one." Ed said, taking a mouthful of stew.

The Colonel's smile seemed to dull a few watts at this, but he nodded. "So I assume you've done inspections like these before, Major? Did you want to tour the mine tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow morning, if that's alright with you. I'll need to see the paperwork and ledgers for the gross product today, as well as the maps and deeds regarding the locations of the mineral deposits."

"Krista is in charge of filing our paperwork in regards to gross product. James and Jennings verify the gross product is what they're reporting on site everyday, so if anything seems out of place, be sure to ask them. Henry is in charge of the mapping of the mine and location of mineral deposits, so he's going to have that information, as well as being your guide on the tour tomorrow. I keep the reports going to central, and Captain Julia- well, she knows how to do everything, so if we can't find a file or something is out of place, she'll know what to do."

Ed had polished off his bowl of stew, and tehy settled into a quiet rythem of work as the afternoon got underway. They were ridiculously organized. It made what could've been a painful process quite easy- The filing system, which Captain Julia herself had devised, made it easy to track down everything he'd needed.

Henry and James occasionally threw paper crumbled into balls at eachother before going about their daily tasks and checking the safety of the mine.

Ed had finished his preliminary audit only a few minutes after 5- the only thing really left was to perform the inspection tomorrow. He sighed, setting his finished folder aside and standing. He was about to excuse himself to his room and think about getting dinner before crashing for the night when the door of the office burst open.

Two little kids were standing in the doorway crying, tumbling over one another as they ran to Henry's desk.

Henry jumped to his feet, alarmed. "Ada, Lily- what are you doing here!?"

Both children were covered in a thin layer of dust, and one of them had a rather large cut on their forehead that appeared to be bleeding.

"Where's your brother?" James face fell.

The littliest child kept crying, and the older of the two- who looked to be about seven- shook her head sadly and fidgeted with her overalls.

"L-Liam went into the old tunnels with us to look for pretty rocks, and then it all fell down!"

"I've told every kid in this town to stay out of the old tunnels- they aren't safe!" Henry thundered.

"We sorry!" the littlest of the two, who looked to be no older than four, cried.

Lieutenant Colonel Yuel was already on his telephone, dialing numbers and speaking quickly to those who answered before moving onto the next call. Krista was tending to the cut on the child's head with first aid, and Captain Julia was grabbing picks and shovels from a nearby closet.

Henry ran a hand through his hair, looking stressed, before he turned and nodded to his cousin. "Go get your dad. Round up all the men leaving the mines- get picks and shovels. We might have to dig all night to get Liam out. If he isn't crushed..."

"I've called them already." Lieutenant Colonel Yule grabbed a pick and a hardhat from the pile, nodding to the girls. "Show us which tunnel it was."

They moved out efficiently- Ed found himself tagging along behind them silently.

Ed wondered to himself why they'd even left old mine shafts open and accessible to the children, but he realized quickly these weren't natural mine shafts- they were natural caves that ran in the rocky landscape of the town.

They were joined at everyb house they passed by miners- still dirty from arriving home from work- who brought picks and shovels- any teenage boy old enough to weild a pick or hammer, and anxious mothers wringing their hands and comforting a crying woman, who seemed to be Liam's mother.

"I told you to stay out of those tunnels!" she cried when she saw her daughters.

"I'm sorry, momma!"

It was rugged terrain, and in the twenty minutes it took to reach the cave-in, Ed had felt a rock of dread set into his stomach. He knew what it felt like to fail your siblings.

A gaggle of ten men- including the boy's father- were feverishly chipping away at a massive pile of boulders that'd fallen in front of the entrance of the cave, making a pile at least five feet wide of solid rock. Younger boys scooped the gravel of the broken boulders to the side with shovels, and Ed swallowed, looking at the mess. It was going to take them hours to get through this by hand.

Ed crouched, feeling the tone between his fingers pensively. It was a dull gray, with some white veins running throgh it- it looked to be limestone.

He brushed past some of the boys and nodded to the men, trying to speak over the sound of frantic working.

"If you could all step back for a moment, I can handle this."

"We can;t stop for a moment! My son is in there!" the lead man shouted, looking frantic. "Get out of the way, kid!"

Ed normally would've been irritated, but he had to give this man some leeway- his son was trapped and he was frigthened. So he tried not to be too irritated with him.

Lieutenant Colonel Yuel materialized, placing a hand on the man's shoulder. "Joe. This is Edward Elric- the Fullmetal Alchemist." he said quietly.

The digging had slowed to a near halt, and Ed took the chance to brandish the watch, stepping forward. "I can help." he offered.

The man wavered for a moment, stepping back and conceding. "Please. Help me get my son."

"I will." Ed said seriously, nodding to the man. He stepped closer to Colonel Yuel, and Henry and James had joined the huddle, as well as Captain Julia and the other soldiers.

"Does this tunnel have any other exits?" Ed asked hopefully.

Jennings shook his head. "These caves aren't mapped. After they were stripped of minerals nobody really cared to."

Ed sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "I can use alchemy to reshape the rocks and make a tunnel through all these rocks. But I'll need to sort of 'melt' the stones around it together into a solid block of stone so that nothing comes loose and collapses the small tunnel I'm making. If I do this, I can get to him within an hour- but my concern is that when I'm fusing all these rocks together, it will seal any cracks that air has to get to the kid right now."

"There's other entrances and openings, even if we don't know where they are. There's wind in this cave- I remember playing it it as a child. I don;t think the boy will be in danger of smothering." Captain Julia spoke up.

"How long do you think this will take? Time is pretty important- we can't tell if he's hurt." the Colonel spoke up.

Ed examined the large bounders, frowning. "A few hours, maybe. It's hard to give an exact estimate. But I can have him out sooner than the men can dig him."

The Colonel nodded seriously. "Do it. What can we do to help?"

"Make me a perimeter and keep everyone back at least twenty feet. This isn't going to be easy- some rocks from overhead might fall while I'm fusing it all together. It's not safe for them to be near this."

"You heard him." The colonel stepped back, moving with his team to do as Ed had ordered.

Ed waited until everyone had stepped back- it was starting to grow dark. He clapped his hands and placed them on a large boulder- he could 'see' the crevices in his mind's eye, where at least five boulders met this one. Where the rocks made contact, his imagined a simple stone transmutation tool, reshaping and joining the boulders into a solid block of stone, about three feet by three feet.

It'd taken some energy to do the transmutation- he repeated it the same action about ten times, before the former pile of boulders was a solid block of fused stone, appearing to be a smooth concrete.

He climbed down from the pile, regaining his footing and wiping the sweat from his brow.

Someone came over and offered him water, but he shook his head. "Not yet. Not until I get the kid.".

He took a moment to rest, before he clapped his hands together and placed them on the rock, imagining what he needed. A three foot cylindrical tunnel slowly emerged, the rock receding at his touch an inch a second, before he couldn't reach the receding stone anymore without climbing into the tunnel.

Normally, he'd have simply made the tunnel all at once- but he was going slowly, hewing the tunnel out in 3 foot segments, so as not to disturb the tunnel drastically without threatening to cause further collapsing in the tunnel. Dusk had turned to night, and there was no light in the tunnel he was making.

A lantern was pushed in behind him, and he eagerly took it, continuing to make the tunnel.

It was roughly ten minutes later when he made it through the stone block to the other side. A rush of stale air hit him, but it was air.

He waited for a moment while his eyes adjusted to the dim light, stepping out and raising the lantern.

A boy of about five sat on the ground, blue eyes staring up at him through the dirt and grime in surprise.

"Hey there- you alright?" Ed crouched down, looking at the little boy carefully.

The boy blinked at the harsh light, surprised.

"You hurt anywhere, buddy?" he tried again.

The boy shook his head no.

"That's great. You want to go home?"

The boy's eyes widened, and a wide grin split his dirty face. "Yeah!"

"Alright. Your mom and dad are out there waiting for you-" Ed set down the lantern, lifting the boy under the armpits and placing him into the tunnel out the cave in he'd made, before grabbing his lantern and climbing in after the boy.

There was yelling and shouting as soon as the little boy emerged- he wasn't even able to climb out of the tunnel- he was lifted out, and people hollered and cried with excitement.

Ed came stumbling out of the tunnel he'd made a moment later, sinking roughly to the ground and gathering himself and his lantern before he was pulled into a bone-crushing hug by an apron wearing woman.

"My baby! you saved my baby!"

"Uh, it was nothing, rea-" but the rest of his voice was drowned out by thunderous applause from the gathered crowed.

Even after he was released, Ed nearly had his flesh arm ripped off due to vigorous handshakes from the boy's father. "I don't believe it. You're the best state alchemist I've ever seen!"

Ed was probably the only state alchemist anyone in this small town had ever seen, but he was saved from the celebration as Lieutenant Colonel Yule swooped in.

"We've all had a very happy ending to tonight- but unfortunately, Major Elric has an important call to take back at the office. You can all talk to him tomorrow!"

A firm hand on his shoulder guided Ed- who was tired to the point of stumbling- was grateful that he needed to focus less on finding his way back to the town in the dark.

"Nice job, Major Elric. That was some work you did back there." the Colonel said calmly.

Ed grunted. "Meh. It was nothing."

"It wasn't nothing. You managed to safely tunnel through all that rock in three hours. It would've taken ten men days to get through thatg. And you managed to do it all without collapsing the whole tunnel."

Ed raised a tired gloved hand stop scrub at his grimy face. "It's simple geological alchemy. Thanks for coming up with that lie about the phone call to get me out of there. they're good people, but I honestly just want to do to bed." his throat was as dry as dust and his voice was hoarse.

"I did get you out of there, but I didn't lie. you really do have an important phone call in the office. Colonel Mustang from Central- he's wondering why you haven't checked in yet."

Ed rolled his eyes, though Colonel Yule couldn't see it in the darkness.

"Great. Just who I want to talk to right now." Ed muttered. He didn't even bother to knock the dust from his boots before he was striding into the office, where Krista was sitting beside the phone resting on the desk for him.

She handed him a glass of water, which he downed in it's entirety within a minute before he was sinking into Colonel Yule's desk chair and taking the receiver.

"Whaddya want?" he growled.

_"Fullmetal. Nice of you to finally check in- even if I did have to call you and you're five hours late. "_ Mustang sounded only slightly irritated.

Ed was too tired to play his games right now. "I am not five hours late!" he protested.

_"It's ten pm, Fullmetal. Our standard check in in 5. You know that."_

"Well excuse me for losing track of time. I spent the past three hours digging through rock to save a kid trapped in a cave. So _sue me_ for being late!"

_"That was mentioned to me, yes. How'd it go, by the way?"_ Mustang posed the question as though he were asking what was for lunch, not annoying the daylights out of him when he was exhausted and just, quite frankly, _over it._

"How do you _think_ it went, you smug Bastard!? I had to fuse a metric _fuckton_ of rocks together, I tunneled through and got the kid out, and instead of getting to go to bed I have to deal with you and your bullshit!"

_"Was the kid okay?"_

"Yes, he was fine. Why all these damn questions?! You can just read about it in my report later." Ed was getting dangerously close to whining- he was dirty, sweaty, he'd missed dinner, and he was exhausted. He felt like a firecracker- he was going to punch someone or hang up on this bastard in a minute.

" _And I know you're fine- because you're small enough you could've just gotten through the rocks between the cracks."_ Roy cracked.

"I'm not short you _bastard!_ I'm too tired for this shit- did you just call me up this late to annoy me!?"

"No. I called to check in."

"Well, I'm checked in, I'm alive, I did all the shit you asked me too and a hell of a lot more, and I'm going to bed, you annoying Bastard." Ed muttered.

He hung up the phone and stood.

He'd replaced the receiver, but if he'd waited only a moment more, he'd have heard Mustang say _"Nice job today, Fullmetal."_ before the Colonel hung up himself.

Ed stood, letting out a sigh and running a hand through his dusty hair. Leave it to the Colonel to wind him up when he'd already had a packed day.

"Was that... a friend?" Krista looked slightly confused.

"No- that was my commanding officer. Nosey bastard." Ed muttered, grumbling the last bit.

"Anyways- look, it's been nice working with everyone. it really has. But I have to inspect your mine tomorrow, and the next person who pisses me off it going to get kicked in the face, so I'm going to bed before I hurt someone." with that, Ed headed down the hall towards his room, receiving a chorus of "goodnight, Major!" in reply.


	3. Meet the Locals

**Thank you so much for all the reviews! I literally LIVE off reviews- they give me the motivation to write faster and keep going. So thanks so much! :)**

* * *

There was knocking on his door. Why were people knocking?

Ed groaned and wrapped himself further in the bedsheet. He hadn't even bothered to strip off his clothes from yesterday, just fallen into his bed boots and all. It was early. Too early.

"Fullmetal?" a hesitant voice asked form behind his door. A moment later, there was a slice of light floating into the room as someone stepped inside.

"Goodmorning, Fullmetal."

Ed cracked one eye open to see Krista, in full uniform, without a hair out of place, smiling at him.

"What time is it?" he groused.

"Quarter to seven. I figured you'd want a shower and some breakfast before the day starts. Do you have spare clothes?"

"I guess." Ed swung his legs over the side of the bed, feeling his automail creak and biting back a groan. He was sore.

Still, he was following behind her. The gray dawn was peeking over the horizon as she led him to a large wooden building with a stone floor. "These are the showers. They should be empty, but Andy heated up some water special for you. We wanted you to have warm water."

He stepped into the shower room to find a steel washtub full of steaming water. It wasn't exactly luxury, but he couldn't help the sigh that escaped him as the warm water helped loosen up his tense muscles and he relaxed.

It reminded him of winter baths at home as a child- when Mom would fill the tub with bucket's she'd warmed by the stove and he and Al would climb in. Then when he'd been seven they'd gotten running water. That had been special. But he still remembered the cold nights in the tub, before he'd get out and drip onto the floor, only to be hugged in a fluffy towel by his mother before they went to sit by the fireplace.

He scrubbed all the grime from his skin and just sat, letting the warmth soak into his bones, until the water went from steaming hot to lukewarm. When he was done he stood, thoroughly drying his automail and pulling on his fresh set of clothes, lacing his boots up again.

There was a long knock at the door. "Fullmetal? You oaky in there?" Ed recognized the voice of Jennings.

"Yeah, I'm ready-" he stumbled out of the bathhouse to be met by Jennings himself, who beamed. "That's good. Krista was worried you'd drowned in there, it's almost been an hour."

"I must've lost track of time." Ed wrung out his wet hair and combed his fingers through it, tugging it into a ponytail. "I don't normally get a chance for a lot of hot baths on the road. It was nice."

"Well I hope you're hungry. Krista's sister Lita cooked up a feast for you at the diner- you can eat whatever you want."

"Seriously?" Ed looked surprised. Most places had never ever offered him this welcome right off the bat.

"Yeah, seriously. Anything for the guy who helped save Liam."

They'd reached a rather large wooden building, and Jennings pushed open the door to the restaurant and gave a wave to everyone as he stepped in.

"Morning folks! We're here!"

People burst into applause. Children were running around, and Ed tried to shrug it off as Lita came over, wiping her hands on her apron. "Morning! There's quite the buffet for everyone- have as much as you like! I made chocolate chip pancakes special for you, as well!" She handed him a plate stacked with pancakes.

He absolutely demolished breakfast. Bacon, eggs, toast, sausage, has browns, and a half dozen pancakes later, he was finally satisfied and let out a sigh.

"Holy crap, Fullmetal- does the military even feed you?" Jennings remarked over his cup of black coffee.

"I'm half metal." Ed spoke around a mouthful of sausage. "Takes energy."

"Ah, makes sense."

Ed finished his sausage and stood, nodding to Lita. "Thank you for everything. It was delicious. Are you sure you don't want me to pay, I have money..."

"No no, no trouble at all." Lita waved him off as he reached into his coat pocket, smiling and picking up a toddler who'd been running around at her feet. "It's the least we can do for someone who saved one of the town's rascals." She tickled the boy's tummy and the boy laughed, kicking his legs.

"Right. Well, I have to go- thanks again!" He gave Lita one last eave before he was following Jennings out the door, into the morning light. He checked his pocket watch- it was nearly nine in the morning.

"Henry is in the mine today with the maps. He can show you all the equipment is up to code, as well as the deposits. It should take a few hours, but you can ask any questions you like. We're an open book here."

The morning slid into afternoon pretty easily. The mining equipment was well-used, but well maintained. All the repairs were thoughtful and careful- Ed actually found himself taking the time to alchemically repair a few tools that's been cast aside for repair, but all the mine carts and rail systems that were capable of causing injury were well maintained.

Henry was soft spoken but knowledgeable, taking him to each and every zone of the mine and helping him check off the boxes on his report. They'd gotten done by 4pm- it would've been sooner, but miners kept stopping them to chat and shake Ed's hand.

Ed was a little honored, as well as a little surprised that he'd become a local celebrity.

He was walking back towards the office with Henry when Jennings ran up to them, speaking hurriedly to Henry.

"Is everything alright?" Ed cocked an eyebrow.

"Yeah, everything is mine. Lieutenant Colonel Yuel just wants a team meeting. I have to go quickly- go on back to the restaurant, Lita will give you dinner." Henry gave him a tense smile before jogging off after Jennings.

"Huh. I wonder what that was all about." Ed asked himself quietly.

"Edward!" Ed looked behind him to see a man coming out of the mine, a pickaxe slung over his shoulder and some children trotting behind him. He recognized the man as Liam's father from yesterday.

"I never got the chance to thank you properly for what you did for my boy yesterday."

"It's no trouble. I'm an alchemist- it's what we do." Ed tried to brush it off.

"Come have dinner with us!" the older girl piped up, looking excited.

"Dinner!" echoed the younger two.

"Momma made you special pie!" Liam chirped.

"Yes, squirt, she did." the man ruffled his son's hair, looking content and giving Ed a smile. "We don't have much to offer to thank you. Would you do us the honor of at least sharing dinner with us? Kora is a real good cook."

"She made pudding too!" the middle girl chirped, her pigtails bouncing as she jumped around.

Ed laughed. "How could I say no to all of that? Sure, I'll have dinner with you."

Lita's restaurant food in the morning had been good. But it paled in comparison to Kora Winder's dinner. There was roast, mashed potatoes and cooked carrots. The stuffing was spicy but soft- it made your mouth tingle. The gravy was smooth and rich, and even her broccoli was good- smothered in some kind of a homemade cheese sauce that was so good even the kids didn't complain about eating it.

He gleaned a little information about the Winders as he ate. The man- Horus Winder- had married Kora right after he'd been hired at the mines. They'd had three children, and he was a third generation miner. Mining was the town's lifeblood.

Then they brought out dessert. Pecan pie- so thick and rich it made his mouth water- and a rich, creamy pudding on the side.

The kids ended up wearing almost as much as they ate, but damn, it was good.

"How'd someone so young end up becoming a state alchemist, anyways?" Horus asked, looking at Ed as if he were his own son.

"Eh." Ed shrugged. "Dad was an alchemist who ran off when I was three. Mom got sick and then she was... gone. And then after the accident that took my limbs, I had to take care of me and my brother- alchemy was the only thing I knew. So fate just threw it into my lap."

"That's a hard life to walk, Edward. Especially for someone so young."

Kora had started to gather up the dishes, and the children helped as well.

Someone tripped and dishes clattered to the floor with a shatter and a wail.

"Careful Sadie, the glass is sharp!" Horus carefully plucked the youngest girl from the mess of broken glass. "Did you get cut?"

"No, but I broke the plates!" Sadie cried. "I'm sorry."

"It was an accident. We'll get more, I'll have Ken order a new set at the general store." Kora went to grab the broom.

"Wait. It's okay. All the pieces are still here- I can fix it." Ed knelt next to the pile of broken pieces, pausing. There had been three plates before...

He clapped his hands and pressed them to the shards- the first plate came together in his hands. He set it aside, doing the same with the other two and handing them back to Sadie, who looked at him wide-eyed with awe.

"You did magic again!" she cheered.

"It's not magic. It's alchemy." Ed got back to his feet, brushing off his pants and giving Horus a smile.

"Life as a state alchemist isn't all bad. For every bad person I meet, I seem to find two more kind ones."

"Can you fix my toy?" Liam had run over with a broken dump truck. The rear axle had snapped, and was crookedly taped together.

"Liam, don't bother him with that." Horus said, frowning.

"Not a problem, it's pretty simple." Ed took the toy, clapping and merging the axle back together with ease, handing it back. The children had crowded around, looking at the fixed toy in amazement.

"I wanna be an alchemist!" Liam spoke up, looking excited.

"Study hard and go to school, and you might be." Ed gave him an encouraging smile.

"Anyways, I have to get going. Thanks for everything- dinner was delicious."

"No- thank you for saving our son." Kora stepped forward, winding her arm around her husband's waist as she smiled at him.

"It was no problem." Ed headed for the door.

"You're ever back in town, you come by and visit. You're always welcome here!" Horus called after him.

"I'll keep that in mind. Goodbye!" he waved to the children, before he was heading back down the narrow dirt road towards town. It was a little after eight- he'd visited longer than planned- he checked his watch as he strode into town, intent on getting on the next train to Central.

But the train station ticket booth was closed. He checked the timetable to see the last train had left at four thirty, and sighed, scuffing the toe of his boot on the ground.

He'd have to catch the first one in the morning.

It took some time for him to find his way back to the military base in the dark, but he let himself into the office, surprised to find everyone still working by lamp light, huddled around a radio.

"Hello?"

"Edward! You're back! Why don't you head to bed- I'll get you a ticket for the train first thing in the morning." Captain Julia spoke up. Everyone was wearing rather tense expressions, and Ed frowned.

"Is something going on?"

"Ah, nothing that you need to worry about. There's just a conflict of sorts in a town two hours from here." Lieutenant Colonel Yuel said simply. "Nothing that should spread as far as here. We just want to keep tabs on it is all."

"I can stay on duty and take a shift, I don't mind." Ed offered.

"No need. We're well staffed. You've worked all day. Head off to bed- you're headed home tomorrow anyways." Yuel told him. Ed thanked them all and headed to bed, though he had a slight feeling something was off.

It was a little after 11pm when there was muffled pounding on the door of the building. It woke him, even though it wasn't on his door directly. He could hear chairs scraping and a cacophony of voices in the office down the hall.

_"... Colonel Draper..."_

_"...Fullmetal Alchemist? Yes, I'm aware... he still here?"_

_"...land encroachment. Counter measures are ordered... seven injured..."_

And several other things Ed didn't catch. He found himself swinging his legs over the side of the bed and pulling on his boots, ducking into the hallway.

He crept up to the hallway, staying in the shadows and listening.

"Are you sure? He's good with alchemy, but he's... young." he could recognize Colonel Yuel's voice.

"His age doesn't matter. If he's a state alchemist, he's more than qualified." the unfamiliar voice, which was slightly booming, responded back. There was obviously something going on he didn't know about.

He stepped out of the shadows and into the lamp-lit room, trying to scrub the sleep from his eyes. "Anybody wanna tell me what's going on?" despite the late hours, there was clear tension in the room. Lieutenant Colonel Yuel shot him a glance that Ed couldn't read- he looked... apprehensive... about something?

The other man- Colonel Draper, Ed assumed- had green eyes, a well chiseled build, and chestnut hair with bangs. "You must be the Fullmetal Alchemist. I'm Colonel Draper from outpost 339. And I need an alchemist."

* * *

**Oh! What do you think is going to happen next!?**


	4. Meet the Squad

"I know you don't want to brief me or whatever, but give me something to go on here. What do you want me to do?" Ed asked, as he fidgeted in the passengers set of his car, trying to set the seat back and lay down for some rest.

"There's been an incident on the Cretan boarder. Relations between our country and Creta have always been... tense. For the past hundred years, our countries have existed peacefully with a 2 mile 'no mans land' between our countries. A neutral zone, if you will. Creta's been encroaching for the past ten years, now- until a few hours ago. A Cretan strike force entered the neutral zone and took over an abandoned hunting cabin at the very edge of the no mans land. They opened fire on one of our boarder patrols, injuring seven and killing twp. My team has the job of ousting them from their strategic location and sending them back home. We engage tomorrow.".

Ed frowned, narrowing his eyes and crossing his arms. "It sounds an awful lot like you're asking me to kill, Colonel Draper. And I don't kill.".

"I'm not asking you to kill, major." Draper said, never once taking his eyes off the road as he drove into the night. "My exact orders from the higher ups are 'demonstration of force sufficient enough to remove Cretans from neutral zone by any means necessary'. That's where you come in. I want an alchemist to show off their skills- Cretan alchemy is rudimentary at best. A display of force from you will hopefully frighten them into running back to their country with their tails between their legs.".

Ed paused, mulling the man's words over. "Okay. So you want a flashy show of alchemy. Wouldn't you be better off calling in my commanding officer, Colonel Mustang? His flame alchemy is much more impressive than me moving rocks and making columns and such."

"Believe me- I've tried. I've put in all the paperwork to the higher ups, but it's going to take too long to get processed by the brass. And even if it wouldn't take days, he wouldn't arrive in time. Our operation starts this afternoon."

"And despite what you may think- I think your alchemy is plenty enough to deal with this situation. From what I understand- you aren't constrained with the use of transmutation circles. That in itself is enough to frighten off any Cretan insurgents. When I heard you were in Axhocal, I knew I had to try and get you- with you and my squad, I'm hoping we can solve this as quickly as possible with the least amount of bloodshed."

Ed hummed. He really just wanted to go home, but it wasn't like he could say no. This Colonel had sought him out specifically, after all.

"You'll be doing everyone here a great service, Fullmetal. By stopping the conflict before it starts, countless lives will be saved. You'll stop a war."

"I highly doubt my alchemy alone can do that." Ed said skeptically.

"Well, I do. Rest up- we reach my base of operations in two hours time. From there you can catch a few hours of sleep before the briefing."

Ed nodded, turning so he was facing away from the Colonel and pulling his red coat around him, letting himself drift off into a light sleep.

The car rumbled to a stop two hours later. Banks turned off the engine and pocketed the keys, getting out of the car. Ed was already awake- he was sued to waking at each stop along journeys by train- but he feigned sleep anyways.

"Colonel? You actually found him?" a voice sounded shocked.

"Yes. But he's just finished his own assignment, he's tired. I'm going to settle him in the barracks with you all for some sleep."

"All due respect, sir, there isn't much sleeping going on. Everyone knows we have a mission tomorrow."

"I don't care if they sleep, as long as they're quiet." Ed decided to make his presence known, snagging his suitcase from the back of the car and getting out, plodding over.

"Fullmetal- glad to see you're up." Colonel Draper remarked happily. Ed found himself looking at a young soldier, who couldn't have been over twenty, with a sandy brushcut, white shirt, and standard military issue cargo pants.

"This is Private Frank Costanza. He was on watch."

"So you're the Fullmetal Alchemist, huh?" Frank asked, looking over at Ed carefully. Ed was tired enough he considered punching the man if he mentioned his height. But instead, Frank gave him a winning smile. "Man, am I glad you found an alchemist. We're glad to have you on our side, man.".

Ed grunted. "Glad to be here. I'll be gladder when I have a bed to crash in."

"Right. Follow me." Colonel Draper led him to the barracks, opening the door. To Ed's surprise, the lights were still on- a group of men dressed in boxers and white t-shirts sat around a small table playing cards- other men appeared to be asleep, but they picked their heads up from their pillows when they heard the door open. One man sat reading in his bed, and another sat writing a letter by a lamp light, while another was sewing up a ripped sock.

"Holy cow. You actually found him." a man with a shaggy mane of copper colored hair and wide blue eyes craned his neck to see from the top bunk, looking surprised.

"Yes. I did. Boys- this is the Fullmetal Alchemist. He's helping on the op tomorrow. Let me introduce you-" he turned to the card table.

"Kenny." Kenny was a redhead with short hair who sat cheekily, holding a hand of cards. "Ron" Ron sat next to Kenny. He had long black hair that he wore in a ponytail and friendly brown eyes. "Ben." Ben had a slight gap between his front teeth and a shaved head. "Percy- who absolutely cheats at cards." the men all laughed and either agreed or disagreed with the colonel's statement, and some of them threw rolled up balls of socks at Percy. Percy had the good grace to look sheepish from where he sat at the card table, running a hand through his black bowlcut. "Leonard- the stick bug." Leonard was the last at the card table- his hair was average length brown, unremarkable. But he was long and wiry, and Ed could easily see where he got his nickname.

"Over there in the top bunk is Arthur, our communications man." Arthur sat reading a book. He smiled- he had silver rimmed glasses with square shaped lenses that sat on the edge of his nose and dark brown eyes, and his hair was platinum blond.

"Will." Will lifted his head, revealing grey eyes, and shook his head, revealing a short brown ponytail that he apparently kept even while sleeping.

"Mark." Mark was the redhead with a shaggy mane of hair who was sitting in the top bunk.

"And everyone's least favorite." the Colonel said, to the chuckles of the men in the room as he turned to the man writing a letter- "Patrick."

Patrick was sitting at a small table, writing by the lamp light. He looked to be the youngest of everyone, even though nobody in the room, excluding the Colonel, was over twenty three. He had boyish charm- his cheeks were still a bit round, and he had green eyes and shaggy chestnut hair with bangs that flopped over his eyes slightly.

"This is the Fullmetal alchemist. Now everyone- get some shut eye. I'm going to relieve Frank from watch so he can get rested up for tomorrow as well." the Colonel turned and headed out. The door fell shut behind him, leaving Ed in the room full of young soldiers.

"Is there an empty bed in here?" Ed asked hopefully.

"Yeah- above me." Patrick set aside the paper he'd been writing on and showing Ed the open bunk above his own.

Ed tucked his suitcase under the lower bed, ready to climb the ladder and turn in for the night.

"Can you show us some alchemy?" Percy peered over, looking slightly like a nerdy coconut with his black bowlcut as he peered over at Ed. "I've never seen any before."

A few of the other men echoed their agreement.

Ed sighed. "What do you guys want me to do?"

"Any kind of alchemy at all!"

"Something cool!"

"Make a rock that looks like Ken's face!"

Ed sighed, unable to pick out anything useful among the shouted suggestions.

"Yeah. I'm just gonna go with my signature move, then." He clapped his hands, transmuting his automail arm into his signature blade.

The room broke into exclamations, and some of the men clamored to get closer.

Arthur pushed his glasses up his nose, reminding Ed of Furey a little bit, and he examined Ed's handywork. "I didn't see you use a transmutation circle. I don't know much about alchemy, but I thought you had to use one."

"Normally, you do. I'm a bit of a special case." Ed clapped his hands again, reverting his arm back to normal.

"Anyways, I'm not trying to be rude, but I really wanna get some sleep. I'll talk to you guys in the morning. Goodnight." ed turned to start climbing the ladder to the bunkbed.

"Goodnight, Major!" Leonard, the tall and lanky stickbug, piped up.

Ed stiffened and turned around, sighing. "That's bad. Don't call me Major, please. Just... Fullmetal is fine. It's what my friends back in Central call me, anyways."

"That is one badass name. Goodnight, Fullmetal!" Mark said, before he was tucking away the sock he'd been repairing and settling into his own bunk.

Lights were turned off and goodnight muttered. Ed's automail arm clanged slightly when he climbed the ladder to his bunk, but soon it was dark and quiet, and he found it easy to fall asleep.


	5. Early Morning

It was a little past six when people started to move around, getting dressed for the day and sleepily snarking insults at one another.

"Fullmetal- hey, Fullmetal. Wake up."

Ed rolled over to see Patrick looking up at him from where he stood beside the bunk, a tired smile on his face despite the dark circles beneath his eyes.

"Briefing is at seven thirty. If you wanna get some chow you should probably get up and follow us to the mess hall."

"Alright." Ed didn't really have much to do by way of getting dressed. He'd even slept with his boots on, and he jumped down from the top bunk and stretched, popping his back and looking around the room.

"Morning." Frank materialized from the darkness on the other side of the room, tugging on the sleeves of his tan military jacket and wearing a ball cap backwards over his sandy brushcut. He and Patrick seemed to be friends- they were chatting about a trading card of some sort Frank had managed to get somewhere, and Ed watched the morning going-ons quietly as they talked.

Leonard- built long and wiry- was already dressed in his t-shirt and cargo pants that seemed to be standard fare around here, with his boots already laced. He laid on top of the sheets of his bottom bunk, the brim of his baseball cap pulled down over his eyes as he caught a quick catnap.

Percy, Kenny and Ben were all pulling on their cargo pants over their boxers. Ben wore a black knit cap over his shaved head to ward off the morning chill.

Ron was already dressed and stood off to the side, brushing out his shoulder length black hair before redoing his trademark ponytail. Will had already redone his brown ponytail, and he offered a spare hair tie to Ron.

Arthur was sitting beside Mark on the bottom bunk, lacing up his boots. Mark appeared to already be ready, and he was reading a book- the same book Arthur had been reading last night, Ed realized. They must've been sharing it.

"Alright shitbirds, time to hit the mess hall!" Will stepped forward, gray eyes dancing with energy despite the early hour.

There was grumbling and mumbling and shifting from everyone.

"You can come with me or you can sleep, but don't whine to me when you're hungry." Will headed for the door, and everyone seemed to follow. It was clear Will was a leader of sorts in the barracks.

Ed found himself falling in step beside Frank and Patrick as they headed down the path to the mess hall.

Never again would Ed complain about the food in Central, he decided, as he moved down the buffet line with his tray of military rations. And never again would he consider turning down the kindness and home cooking of friendly locals.

He plunked his tray down between Ed and Patrick at the long table, looking at the instant scrambled eggs that were a bit runny, the bacon that was a bit too crisp, and the sausage links that tasted kind of like sawdust, and decided he might as well start by eating his biscuit, because that looked to be the least threatening out of all of the food.

Mark tripped on his way back to the table and went sprawling, and the entire squadron broke into hearty applause at his misfortune. Ed wasn't sure if he should join in or not, but the squad seemed like a rowdy bunch of men capable of having fun, and Mark laughed it off, standing up to go get himself another tray.

"Hey Fullmetal- where are you from?" Percy spoke to him from across the table, and Ed must've made a face after he took his first bite of biscuit, because there were some chuckles from around the table. There was way, way too much baking powder in this biscuit.

"Here- put some of this on there. Makes it easier to swallow." Mark slid a pile of small jam packets across the table.

"Thanks." Ed opened one, relieved to find at least strawberry jam was good out here, before he turned back to Percy. "What'd you say? It's freaking early."

Frank got up to grab something, and Percy repeated his question.

"Oh- uh- Risembool. My younger brother is still up there, actually, helping out some friends. What about you guys?" Ed looked around the table.

"We're a mixed bag, really. We all went to basic training together in East City, but it turns out every town has an idiot, and somehow they ended up in this squad." Will spoke up, smiling.

He received some protests and playful punches in the arm from the men sitting around him.

"I'm from Dublith." Percy spoke up happily.

"Dublith. You heard of an alchemist by the name is Izumi Curtis?" Ed asked.

"Yes, everyone's heard of teacher. I used to play on her lawn with the other kids ten years ago." Percy said happily.

"She was my alchemy teacher." Ed had set aside his biscuit and tried a forkful of the runny eggs, not that impressed with the food but slightly distracted by the conversation.

Percy's eyes widened. "Wow. No wonder you're so skilled then. Teacher is a nice lady, but she's kinda..."

Ed allowed a small smile to grace his features "Crazy?"

"Yeah." Percy said, and Ed nodded.

Frank came back to the table with two steaming mugs, plunking one down in front of Ed. "Black coffee for our visitor. I'd recommend drinking it while it's still scalding hot- otherwise you have to taste it."

There were some chuckles from around the table, and Ed thanked him and shotgunned half the mug. Finally, some caffeine.

Ron speared a sausage on his fork, speaking up. "Me, Ben and Kenny are all from Fotcett. We enlisted right out of highschool."

"Did you guys know each other before you enlisted?" Ed asked.

All three shook their heads, laughing, before Kenny spoke up "Nah. We all went to different high schools. Not that you would know it, though. We're pretty tight friends- together, we have an IQ in the triple digits." there was racious laughter as the three started shoving one another from where they sat in a row, an someone stole a piece of bacon off of someone else's plate.

"I'm from New Optain." Arthur added between bites of biscuit.

"The stickbug over there hales from Pendleton." someone pointed to Leonard, who smiled and nodded enthusiastically, even though his mouth was clearly full.

"I'm from Lacco, and Patrick is from Wobum about thirty minutes away. Our school teams used to play against one another for sports." Frank spoke up, before he was spearing something that was obviously food but didn't look like anything other than a pile of mush to Ed with his fork.

"And I'm from Taog- the middle of nowhere, but also home to the prettiest girl in the world." Mark spoke up happily, his eyes glittering. "Anyone wanna see a picture?"

Ed was struck with a sense of deja vu as everyone protested vehemently, and Ed wondered if Mark was related to Hughes somehow.

"And I'm from Baschool." Will said happily.

"He's also a geezer!" Leonard called from where he sat at the table, and others agreed.

Will smiled sheepishly. "Yeah yeah, whatever. I'm twenty three, so I'm the oldest in the squad." he turned to Ed "You're what, fourteen?"

Ed nodded, prepared to get jibbed about his age. "Yeah. I am."

"Don't fuck with him though! If Mrs. Curtis taught him, he could kill us all with one hand!" Percy spoke up, looking slightly alarmed at the fact his squadmates might be about to make such a fatal mistake.

"That's wild. To be a state alchemist at such a young age, you must really have some skills." Frank said.

Ed shrugged.

"So- how long ago was the accident?" Mark asked, nodding towards Ed's metal arm.

Ed paused with a forkful of eggs halfway to his mouth, caught slightly off guard. Mustang had modified his files, he just had to remember to cover story...

"It was during the Eastern Rebellion." he said simply. He was lucky Mustang had given him a good lie.

"Oh yeah. Resembool is pretty close to Ishval, isn't it?" Will said thoughtfully. "Still, man, that must suck- you were just a kid."

Ed shrugged. "You get used to it. I have a metal leg, too. It's nice- I can kick down doors pretty easily."

There were some chuckles at this.

"So if Resembool is pretty close to Ishval- did you ever see any battles as a kid?"

Ed shook his head. "No. Soldiers passing through town sometimes, yeah, but that's about it. I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time when I lost my limbs. Hardly even remember it." he took a long sip from his coffee mug, not wanting to talk about it anymore.

"So you work under the Flame Alchemist, right?" Patrick asked.

Ed nodded.

"What's he like? Have you seen his alchemy?"

Ed grinned. Finally, something he was eager to talk about "He's a womanizing idiot. His alchemy is solid, I'll give him that, but he's also a lazy, annoying jerk who lives to make my life hell."

"Wow. You must really not like the guy, then. That's a pretty strong opinion." Will said, looking slightly shocked at how frank Ed was.

"I never said I didn't like the guy. He's a good officer when he stays the hell out of my way and lets me take care of my missions, but he's nosy and he's always in my business. And he's always flirting with girls and trying to change the dress code to miniskirts for the female officers."

There was the clanking of forks and silverware being dropped from around the table, and everyone went wide-eyed.

"Is he accepting transfers under his command?! I want to serve under miniskirt-Mustang!" Percy looked near feral with excitement, and his nose spurted blood.

"No! we don't need anymore idiots in central!"

But Percy had latched onto Ed's leg. " _Please_ put in a good word for me, Fullmetal- I wanna work with hot girls all day! My future is in your hands!"

"Get off me!" Ed gave Percy a kick with his flesh leg, and the mess hall erupted into laughter.

After the commotion had died down, everyone went back to eating in silence. Frank checked his wristwatch and nodded to Will, who was looking at him with interest. "Six thirty." he announced.

"Alright. I'm done eating- I'm gonna hit the commissary before we have to head to the briefing." Will announced, picking up his now empty tray and setting it with the dishes to be bussed on a nearby table.

Ed's theory that Will was the informal leader of sorts was reinforced when everyone else stood and did the same, the gaggle of soldiers heading to a small wooden building, a bell ringing when then opened the door to enter.

The commissary was like a small general store of sorts, with most of the basic food and drinks Ed had seen in central.

Ed was unsure where to look first, but he saw Kenny in the back near jars of peppermint sticks and other candy and decided to gravitate there.

Kenny smiled at him from where he was filling a small brown paper bag with various sweets. Kenny, the redhead with a short brushcut and blond eyebrows, smiled at him. "So if you were a kid in Resembool, which sweet would you want more, Ed? A lollipop or bubblegum?"

Ed paused for a moment, thinking of the few holidays he and Al had gotten sweets. Lollipops were great, but he'd always found bubblegum was better- he enjoyed blowing bubbles with it, and sharing it as well.

"Bubblegum. Get the kind that comes rolled up like a measuring tape- it's more fun to break off a strip and share it with your friends."

"I never even thought of that. Thanks, Fullmetal." Kenny smiled, grabbing what Ed suggested. "It's for my little sister back home. Not many sweet shops in our neighborhood."

Ed nodded, grabbing himself a pack of bubblegum as well and moving onto the next aisle.

Patrick and Frank were debating which types of ramen were the best, and Ed smiled slightly at them before grabbing some energy drinks and chips. He needed caffeine, and the crappy coffee here wasn't going to cut it.

When he got to the counter there was a veritable gaggle of men gathered around a plate covered in a glass dome.

"No way..."

"It's totally fresh..."

"But twenty cens a slice? That's ridiculous..."

Ed brushed past them, placing his stuff on the counter for the clerk to ring up and realizing they were staring at an entire chocolate cake longingly.

It was ridiculously priced, but then again, this outpost was in the middle of nowhere.

"Twenty seven cens." the clerk had rung up all his stuff. Ed looked over at the men congregating around the cake and sighed. "Yeah. I'll take the entire cake, too."

The entire commissary fell silent. "That'll be two hundred twenty seven cens. Are you sure you have the money, kid?" the clerk looked skeptical.

Ed reached for his pocket, pulling out his watch and dangling it by the chain. "The name is Fullmetal, actually. The Fullmetal Alchemist, Edward Elric. You can take it out of my research account."

The clerk paled, but hurriedly rung up Ed's purchases and let him sign the ledger.

Ed turned to find the entire squad staring at him in awe.

Ed shrugged, grabbing a slice of cake with his bare hands from the case. "I only want a slice. The food in your mess hall sucks. You guys can have the rest."

The entire commissary erupted into cheers, and Ed smiled, turning and leaving the squad to enjoy as he headed back to the barracks, climbing back up to his bunk to chill. He cracked open an energy drink, letting the familiar buzz of caffeine and strawberry flavor take him away.

Less than ten minutes later, his squad mates came tramping back into the barracks, abuzz with excitement.

"Thanks for the cake man! That was awesome! You scared the shit out of Henry the supply clerk, but that's fine, he's always kind of a jerk anyways." Arthur babbled.

"What can I say- it's what I do." Ed said, smiling. The rest of the squad came clamoring back in as well, abuzz with excitement.

A few minutes later, a small pile of stuff was dumped on Ed's bunk.

Ed looked up in surprise- a few packs of microwave popcorn, two boxes of cigarettes, a pack of instant ramen, and a few wrapped pieces of chocolate.

"What's this?"

"A thank you from the squad for your most generous gift. We'll have to find a way to get you some beer too, after the mission is all over." Will said, offering Ed a smile. The man still had some chocolate smeared around his face.

"You guys didn't have to do that." Ed looked down at the small pile, baffled. Nobody usually repaid his gifts before.

"And you didn't have to buy us the cake, but you did. Anyways, time to hop to- briefing is in five minutes. Get your asses in gear, everyone! Ben, you idiot, get that chocolate off your face!"


	6. Breifing

**I'm so glad you guys are liking this! Onward we go!**

* * *

The briefing room was just a rearranged mess hall, it turned out. Ed plopped himself onto one of the benches, looking to see a large map spread on the table. He could clearly recognize the red shaded no-mans land between the two boards of Amestris and Creta.

Colonel Draper strode into the room, nodding to the squad.

He placed a small black marker on the map, right at the edge of the no-mans land.

"This is your target. A cabin on the boarder of no mans land 2 miles from here. It's currently been overtaken by a Cretan strike force. Your objective is to attack and drive the Cretans back out of no-mans land by whatever means necessary. I don't have to remind me that we aren't drawing first blood- they've already attacked one of our border patrols and killed two. We believe they're planning an invasion of our boarder, and they must be dealt with swiftly. Understood?"

Everyone nodded, resolute and serious.

"Arthur is in charge of communications. We have a heavy artillery position ready to provide heavy cover fire from cannons and mortars on your position to hold back the Cretan advance should you fail to hold your position. We aren't one hundred percent certain where the Cretans are hiding, so providing a precise mortar strike isn't an option. Percy- you have the best marksmanship out of the entire squad. I'm placing you as our sniper. You're to take position on a small rise to the east over here. Everyone else is to ask as foot soldiers around Fullmetal as you advance. There's a dry creek bed one hundred feet from the start of no mans land that will provide cover if needed. Your objectives are to engage with prejudice- attack on sight, and protect Fullmetal at all costs. As an alchemist, he has the ability, to my understanding, to shift massive amounts of Earth, create barriers, and he has a few other tricks up his sleeve."

"Fullmetal- you'll be commanding the squad. You make the decisions on advances and retreats, where to find cover- every man answers to you." Draper said seriously.

"You're not going on this mission?" Ed looked over at the Colonel, surprised. Every man seemed to tense and sit up a little straighter at the realization.

"No, I'm not. Should your mission fail, I have orders to launch mortars on your position to prevent the Cretans from invading further and am to alert the Furher immediately, so active war can be declared. They want me to stay behind and direct operations in case a full scale offensive is needed."

The words hung heavy in the room. If they were to fail at pushing back the Cretan strike force, there would probably be a war.

"What if we capture the Cretan strike force, Sir? Are we to execute them on sight or bring them back to Amestris for trial?" Will spoke up.

the Colonel looked slightly pained at the question. "It would be preferable to bring them back to face trial. However- the battlefield is unpredictable. I'll leave that individual judgement up to each man and what they think is best at the time. Regardless of what you decide- capture or kill- it is imperative the neutral zone is cleared of any Cretans. If you're uncertain of a decision- ask Fullmetal. His word is law in the field. You deploy in three hours- go get your gear ready. You've all been given a map of the area, in addition to your standard rifle and kit. Dismissed."

The benches scraped the floor, and everyone stood, filing out of the room much more somber than they'd been walking in.

"Fullmetal- a word?" Colonel Draper stopped Ed as he stood, and Ed nodded, sitting back down and waiting until the rest of the men had filed out of the room.

"People may be hurt on this mission. You may have to prioritize the mission's outcome over the survival of the team."

Ed simply stared. He'd never been in command before, and nausea fluttered in his stomach as the blood in his ears started to roar. He must've zoned out a little, because the next thing he knew, Colonel Draper was sitting beside him, a hand on his shoulder seeming to anchor him, waving a hand in front of his face.

"Fullmetal? You there? Geeze, kid, you went pale as a ghost."

"You want me to sacrifice their lives for the sake of the mission?"

"That is the last thing I want for you to do. I don't want anyone to die, this mission- it's bigger than just you and my squad. If this fails, we may enter a war. A war where a lot more lives are lost. I'm not telling you to willingly sacrifice anyone. It just... it isn't a perfect world. Things may happen out there in the field- things that you cannot control. And you may have to make the choice to push forward and complete the mission, even when everything in you is screaming to give up. Do you understand?"

"No. I don't understand at all." Ed's eyes had gone steely. "I don't understand any of this! Why am I leading this mission!? Why aren't you going to face hell with your own men instead of leaving it up to ME to make all the hard decisions!?"

"You think I want this, Edward!?" Colonel Draper snapped, rising to his full height. "I want to go with my men! I want to go with every ounce of my being! But I have been ordered- my career is on the line here- to stay back and hold the line, in case this war DOES start! I care about my men. I care about them so much that I drove for hours in the middle of the night on the off chance that I could find a state alchemist in the middle of nowhere to help them complete their mission! Do I sound like a heartless bastard to you!?"

Ed paused, but Draper plowed forward.

"You've spent time with my men. They're good men, every since one of them. Don't try to tell me they're not. I know I said I wouldn't ask you to kill, Edward- and I still can't justify asking you that. But I do want you to consider something. If you, as an alchemist, have to kill an enemy in order to stop them from killing your friend- will you do it? Because it might boil down to that. Kill them before they kill you. I'm lucky I found you Ed- so lucky. I don't want to send my men into this alone. A state alchemist will give them a fighting chance to get out of this- by some miracle in one piece."

All Ed could hear was the fact that Colonel Draper was asking him to kill. "It doesn't work that way! It's not all absolutes, you idiot! I'm an alchemist, not a god, and I won't go slaughtering people in your name!"

"I'm not asking you to, Edward. I'm simply asking you to protect those under your command to the best of your ability. Can you do that?"

"Yes." Edward bit out harshly. For some reason, though, he hated Colonel Draper- hated him for getting him into this horrible situation.

The Colonel placed a hand on Ed's shoulder and gave it a squeeze.

"Thank you, Edward. Head back to the barracks and get ready to deploy. I have faith in you."

"That's good, because I've lost pretty much all respect I have for you." Ed snarled, trying to ignore the hurt look on the Colonel's face as he turned and stalked out of the room.

* * *

Ed tried to take his time walking back to the barracks, kicking a rock he'd found in front of him morosely, with his hands in his pockets.

But he couldn't stay stuck in his own little world for long. Far too soon, he was outside the barracks. He glared at the door like it had personally offended him, not wanting to go in.

"What's the matter, Fullmetal?" Ed looked over to see Ben leaning against the wall of the barracks, smoking a cigarette.

Ed shrugged.

"You stressed out about the mission?"

Ed nodded slightly.

"Wanna smoke? They always help me when I'm feeling stressed out." Ben reached into his pocket, withdrawing his pack of cigarettes and offering him one.

Ed hesitated for only a moment, grabbing one between his fingers and putting it between his lips. If that bastard Colonel Draper thought he was old enough to do his dirty work for him, then he had to be old enough for a cigarette, right?

He fumbled with the lighter Ben handed him, but no matter how he tried, he couldn't get the cigarette to catch. He frowned, frustrated.

"Here, let me help." Ben knelt slightly, carefully taking the lighter from Ed and flicking open the flame expertly. "You have to inhale- draw a breath in like the cig is a straw, buddy..."

Ed did, and a moment later, the cigarette caught.

"There you go! That a boy, Fullmetal!" Ben patted him on the shoulder.

Ed looked at the burning end of the cigarette, slightly enthralled and slightly curious.

"Now that it's lit, take a puff. Just... inhale it." Ben instructed.

Ed took a large breath through his mouth, like he was trying to sniff flowers through his mouth. His throat burned like he'd just tried to swallow nails, and he ended up doubled over and nauseas, hacking his lungs out.

Ben patted his back and gently took the cigarette from his hand, managing to calm him down as Ed swallowed back nausea.

"Easy there, Fullmetal."

"How... how the hell... do you... enjoy this...?" Ed managed to get out between hacking coughs.

"You get used to it, I guess. I can always feel the nicotine make my heart go a little faster and my head clear a little. It's sort of like a caffeine buzz, I guess." Ben was smiling down at him, and he offered him a sip from his water bottle as Ed straightened up. "Sorry Fullmetal- I forgot how rough my first smoke was. You'll get used to it. But if you don't like it, you don't have to." Ben said warmly. He held Ed's cigarette in one hand and took a puff of his own, blowing out the smoke easily.

Ed watched him for a brief moment, enthralled, before he felt determination flood him.

"Can I have my cigarette back?"

"Sure, sure. It's even still lit." Ben said, handing it back to him. "Don't take such a big puff and you won't choke as much." he advised helpfully.

Ed took a small drag this time, holding it in his mouth for a moment. His throat was already kind of raw, and he sort of enjoyed it a little this time. He felt his lungs warm up a little, the tobacco was no longer attacking him, just sitting in his mouth easily... He puffed out the smoke in an exhale, watching it rise up to the sky...

Now he understood why Havoc was hooked on smoking. It was kind of fun.

He took another drag, savoring this one too, before he let it go. He could feel his heart beat a little faster, but stronger- his head seemed to clear, his senses sharpen...

"Not bad. I have to go get ready, though..." he looked down at the half smoked cigarette in his hands, wondering if he should stamp it out on the ground.

"I'll finish it for you." Ben offered, and he handed it to the man, who grinned.

"Thanks for the cigarette."

"Anytime, Fullmetal."

Ed ducked inside the barracks.

Everything was a flurry of activity inside. Men were crowded around a map spread on the card table, discussing positions. Rifles were being cleaned, disassembled and laid out of bunks. Backpacks were half-packed and strewn about the floor. And most men in the room were no longer dressed in cargo pants and t-shirts, but in the blue uniform of Amestrian soldiers.

"Hey, Fullmetal!" Patrick waved him over from where he sat with Frank on the bottom bunk. "We snagged you a spare backpack from the supply depot. Figured you wouldn't want to take your breif case with you."

"Thanks." Ed's eyes softened, and he grabbed the bag and slung it over his shoulder, testing the weight. It wasn't so bad.

"There's two MREs in there, a basic first aid kit, and a bottle of water. You don't want to be too weighed down." Frank said, and Ed nodded. Both men were reassembling their rifles, and Ed watched them at their task for awhile, listening to the chatter, before Will assembled everyone around the table.

"Alright Fullmetal. Did Colonel Draper tell you anything else important he forgot to mention to us?" Will asked as Ed was nudged into the center of the circle and card table.

"Not really. Just general stuff." Ed said simply. He couldn't bring himself to repeat what Draper had asked him to do. Or to tell the squadron of men that'd been friendly with him that they might not all make it home. They were soldiers- he was sure they knew the possibility anyways.

"Alright then. We all have a map in our backpacks, but it's for the best if we go over it as a team once in case someone gets separated. Fullmetal here is the leader, but I had a rough idea of what we might want to do when we get out there." he looked to Ed for permission. Ed nodded. "Go ahead."

"Alright. So we hike in formation here- five hundred feet from the start of no mans land, Percy splits off. As our sniper, he has to covertly make his way to the ridge and get into position."

"The rest of us discretely approach the dry creek bed a hundred feet from the start of no mans land and observe the cabin for signs of insurgents and formulate a strike plan from there." Will looked over to Ed for approval. Ed nodded. "Sounds like a solid plan to me. Once we're in the creek bed, we can think up our approach to the cabin."

Will nodded his approval. "Alright, men. Get your things ready- we leave him half an hour!"

"Can we stop at the post office before we go!? I have a letter I have to mail for my girl." Mark waved an envelope around in the air.

Will looked hesitant.

"Yeah, and I have to send this package home for my sister!" Kenny piped up, holding a box he'd filled with sweets from the morning.

Will rolled his eyes. "Fine, fine. Just hurry and get ready- we have to move out soon. I don't want to be getting into shit with the Colonel."


	7. Active Combat- Part 1

This outpost really was in the middle of nowhere.

They hiked in five rows of two men each, with Ed in the only row of three, sandwiched between Patrick and Franks.

The land out here was rocky, a large plain of grass and wildflowers leading up to a dry creekbed. One hundred feet beyond the creek bed and open field was a treeline of forest, and if one peered inward long enough, they could see the faint outline of a wooden cabin among the trees.

Will marched in the first line, and he raised his hand and signaled a half forty minutes into their hike. Under the noon sun, cicadas called out to and butterflies flew among the wild goldenrod. It hardly looked like a potential battleground.

Will pointed off to the side- this was where Percy would split off and head for the ridge to provide cover. The young man licked his lips, looking anxious, before he nodded to the squad and took off up the rocks, towards the outcropping.

They continued their hike- Ed saw a slight dip in the distance- that must've been the dry creek bed they'd been talking about. It looked to be about ten feet deep and rocky but dry.

That was the last thing he thought before he heard the whistling noise.

William turned, eyes wide. "Everybody down!"

And then the world exploded into dirt and pain.

The next thing Ed was aware of he was on the ground. Someone was on top of him.

"Move, move! Get to the creekbed! Get to cover!" He could hear Will screaming over the fatal whistling of another shell.

"Fullmetal! Shit!" Patrick was grabbing him, Frank beside him- they pulled him off the ground,m and Ed realized he was only dazed, not hurt.

There had been someone on top of him, though. Ed turned- whoever it was was unconcious, and he grabbed their hand and turned to run...

Only to find whoever it was had let go of his hand? No, he could still feel them in his grip- he tried to turn and see what was wrong, but Frank shouted, fairly dragging him along and keeping him looking forward.

"Don't look back! Keep going, Ed!" as another shell hit the ground twenty feet from where they'd been standing, showering dirt on them.

Ed didn't stop running until they'd dove into the creek bed with the others- he still had something held tightly in his grasp.

It was an arm. Nothing else- just a long, lanky arm...

Ed's eyes widened- his pupils constricted... He let go of the hand- the disembodied arm fell to the floor fo the creekbed, and Ed found himself fighting the urge to be sick.

Cotton. His head was full of cotton. His ears were buzzing, and he could hear everything and nothing at the same time. He was underwater- the voices around him skimmed the surface, but they never got to him, never got under...

"Edward! Focus, Ed!" Patrick's voice seemed to bring him back to the land of the living. The soldier had placed both arms on Ed's shoulders, gripping him hard enough to leave bruises, but he was back, he could hear him, now, over the whistles or artillery shells being dropped on them.

"Are you with me, Ed!?" Patrick asked, concerned.

"Leonard..."

Frank was placing an arm around his shoulder, preventing him from looking back at the disembodied arm he'd carried all the way to the creekbed with him. "We can't help Stick Bug right now, Ed. We have to get to the others- they're further down this creek bed, I saw them. Let's go!" Frank said, though his voice cracked slightly when he'd said Leonard's name.

His companions grabbed their rifles and they charged further down the creekbed, headed towards their allies. The depth of the creekbed did well at shielding them- the whistling of artillery shells was still there, but nothing was falling on top of them anymore. They were safe- for now.

They converged on the main ground in the creekbed within five minutes. Ron was on the ground moaning, wrapped in a space blanket and looking far too pale. Kenny held a large wad of bandages that was far too red for Ed's liking to the man's shoulder- the others huddled around him in the trench, and Will looked worried, his brow breaking in releif when he saw Ed.

"Oh thank god- they have Fullmetal!"

Everyone looked up from where they'd been sitting, huddled around, with such hope that Ed felt like he was lying to them. What could he possibly do to fix any of this, he wondered?

"They have a mortar hidden somewhere in the woods! They're dropping shells at us- we need to take it down!" Will yelled over the whistle of another shell being launched. Everyone was looking at Ed, save Ron, who was hardly conscious.

Ed paused, trying to steady himself. He cast a glance down at Ron, who'd gone still but wasn't looking good at all.

"The sooner we finish this, the sooner the medics can come in." Mark said hopefully.

Ed nodded. He was already trying to shake off the loss of Leonard, to make a plan...

"We need cover. I've going to crawl out of the creekbed- I can put up a wall of earth about five feet tall. From there, we can take cover behind it and use it going forward. I can put up more walls and section off the field leading up to the treeline, wall it off and provide us cover to go in."

Will nodded. "What can we do?"

"I need a diversion. Stand and fire your guns on three- the noise will distract them from me, and I can put up that wall about fifty feet ahead. From there, we run and take cover behind it."

"You heard him. Rifles loaded, men!" Will called.

A moment later, everyone was standing, rifles loaded. Frank nodded to Ed. "Tell us when, Fullmetal." he said, voice straining to be heard over the whistle of another artillery shell. "On three. One..." Ed could hear the cocking of rifles "Two..." He got ready to leap out of the creekbed. "Three!"

The men all jumped up, peering over the creek bank and firing off a round towards the treeline and the invisible enemy.

Ed scrambled out of the creek bed, clapping his hands and placing them to the ground, envisioning what he needed- a wall six feet tall sprung from the earth fiftyafifty feet aheadoahead them, fifty feet long. The blue crackle of alchemic light had hardly faded before Ed turned, looking down at his comrades still entrenched in the creek bed. "Go, go go!"

He was helping pull men up and out as they all ran and dove behind this new barrier in the field. Complete silence permeated the field for one moment, two, as they rested, backs to the wall, filthy, sweaty and out of breath.

"They've stopped firing mortars. They aren't sure what to do. I think the alchemy has thrown them off, they don't know how we've constructed a wall like this." Arthur spoke up.

They took a brief moment to celebrate their small victory.

"Hostile forces spotted! There's men just within the treeline, Sir!" Ben shouted. He'd been peering over the wall with his binoculars.

"Do not engage. There's too much grass and vegetation to hide behind..." Ed paused, looking around. In the summer heat, everything was pretty dry.

"Ben- I need your lighter. Does anyone have anything flammable?" Ed asked hopefully.

A flask was produced and handed to him.

"We're torching the field and the treeline. No more cover to hide behind." Ed drenched a rag, setting it aflame and tossing it as far as he could. He clapped his hands together, picturing the array Mustang used for his flame alchemy and placing his hands to the ground, drawing the oxygen out of the air and trying to concentrate it around the ground in front of them. The wildflowers and brush, which had been waist high before, was reduced to ash within five minutes, and the flames licked at the edge of the treeline.

"Nowhere left to hide now." Ed said triumphantly, looking at the scorched earth in front of them.

The earthen wall he'd constructed twenty feet to the left of him exploded.

"Tank incoming!"

"What the fuck!?"

As the flame licked at the edge of the treeline, a tank that'd been cleverly covered in brush and flowers crept forward, having blown out of hiding when the field was set aflame. It was fifty feet from them and closing the distance rapidly.

"Hostiles soldiers approaching! They're charging us, sir!"

"Fire! Cut them down, do NOT let them get over this wall!" Will shouted, loading his rifle.

Will, Mark, Arthur, Kenny, and Ben all took aim over the wall.

"Fullmetal- the tank. We need to stop the tank." Patrick said hurriedly.

"Don't bother- Ed, keep the wall up! I've got this!" Frank said. Mortar fire had resumed falling around them.

Frank pulled something from his bag- a grenade, Ed realized- before he was vaulting the wall, charging towards the approaching tank.

"Frank, wait!" But he didn't heed Patrick's warning. He only had thirty feet to cover to get to the tank.

"Cover him!" Ed shouted, vaulting over the wall as well.

Frank didn't get twenty feet before he was shot down. Still, he'd already pulled the pin on the grenade, and from where he laid, he threw it as close to the tank as he could get- only it did little damage.

"Fuck!" Patrick was screaming.

"Fullmetal, the first wave of Cretan foot soldiers is death with, but we do NOT have the firepower to take down that tank! Fullmetal, can you hear me!?" Will was shouting. Ed couldn't take his eyes off Frank's still, unmoving form in the middle of the battlefield.

"Fullmetal!" Will slapped him across the face. "We have twenty seconds before that tank is going to kill us all! I need you to do something or we'll all end up like Frank!"

His face was wet. When had it started raining? Were those... tears, on his face?

"Fullmetal, I need orders! Fuck..."

Ed looked out the where Frank was still splayed on the battlefield. He looked at the filthy, frightened men he was supposed to be commanding.

Colonel Draper's words rose to his mind like the bile that was creeping at the back of his throat.

_People may be hurt on this mission. You may have to prioritize the mission's outcome over the survival of the team._

He squashed the thought, swallowed it back. He was an alchemist. There was only equivalent exchange. _Fuck that. I'd rather die than sacrifice my men._

"Don't let them shoot me down. I'll handle the tank." he said to William.

He turned, running towards the break in the wall that the tank was approaching.

"Fullmetal, wait!"

"That's suicide!

"You heard him! Cover him, Dammit!" Patrick's voice rose above the alarm and chaos, and Ed would've thanked him if he'd had the time.

He reached the hole in the wall- the tank was fifteen feet away, and though it may have been suicidal, he charged it, sprinting, clapping his hands together as he ran.

Movement to his left- but his team covered him, the man fell.

How did you destroy a tank without any explosives? How did you win a fight when you didn't want to kill anyone?

_The only way to keep your squad safe is to destroy that tank. Destroy... deconstruct..._

The image of Scar's tattoo flashed through his mind. The array- he'd seen it before- destroy. Simply deconstruct the matter. His gloved hands met the metal of the tank, and in a flash of blue alchemic light, all that remained was twisted metal and pieces.

Ed found himself standing in a field of carnage- the tank was no more than a pile of twisted metal. Someone- the tank's operator- clawed his way out from the deconstructed metal, looking down from the pile of rubble Ed had created in shock.

He pulled a pistol, Ed clapped his hands and hit his knees, pulling up a dirt wall just as the man fired.

Another shot ran out, and a moment later, a voice brought him back to his senses.

"Fullmetal- we're right behind you! We need more cover!" Will, Patrick, Kenny, Ben, Mark and Arthur were sprinting towards him, rifles at the ready.

Ed clapped, bringing up another six foot wall of dirt that spanned the length of the field in front of them- they were only thirty feet from the treeline, now. The remains of the flames licked at the edge of the treeline, and looking to his left and his right, Ed could see a variety of bodies laying in the field, and he didn't recognize any, except for one...

"Fullmetal. We have to push forward. I can see the cabin- there are at least twenty Cretans left, and they're still hiding a mortar in the woods somewhere. What's your plan?"

"Burn the cabin to the ground. Destroy the mortar launcher and retreat. Is everyone alright?" Ed realized with a sinking feeling only six men were with him now.

"I'll live." Patrick was tearing a strip of fabric and tying it around a bullet he'd taken to the arm.

Mortar rounds were still whistling through the air, and Ed nodded. "We have to move away from this tank. They'll think we're staying here, let's go..." they weren't more than twenty feet away when a mortar shell struck the site of the now ruined tank, but they kept moving, until they were dead center behind the wall, facing the treeline and the cabin in the distance.

"Percy's on the radio- He's managed to down two insurgents. He says that they aren't moving about as much- it seems like they're returning to the cabin to regroup." Arthur spoke up.

Ed nodded. "We must've seriously thrown them off with all this alchemy."

"Or maybe they're fucking scared of us because they just watched a fourteen year old kid tear apart a tank." Kenny said, chuckling.

"Whatever it is, we have them on the run now. I'm sure they're hiding ammo and possibly bombs in that cabin with them. If we start it on fire, it'll turn into a bomb. From there- all I have to do is locate and destroy the mortar launching shells, and we'll be clear." Ed said simply. His ears were ringing from all the gunfire, but he tried to shake it off.

There was the sound of guns being loaded, and Ed nodded towards his men.

"Ready? Once we break that treeline, they might be waiting for us. I plan on using alchemy to make myself a rock platform and hopefully disorient them- it'll also provide a good diversion for you to pick them off. From there, our primary objective is torching the cabin. Do we have anything flammable?"

Ben grinned, producing a bottle of beer he'd stuffed a rag into the end of. "I got a lighter, too, Fullmetal."

"That'll work. You get to the cabin and start the fire, and cover me while I concentrate the oxygen nearby with alchemy. The whole place will burn."

"Where did you learn about this oxygen alchemy thing anyways? Is that how your burnt this field down so quickly?" Arthur asked.

Ed nodded. "Yeah. It's a trick I picked up from Colonel Bastard himself, the Flame Alchemist. I still can't control or start fires like he can- but I sure can make them burn faster. Are we ready to move, everyone?"

"Just about. Fullmetal- if someone falls or gets hit- you have to keep going. You understand? Our job is to protect you. We can't do that if you're trying to save us. Focus on the goal only- destroying this cabin and the artillery. Only by succeeding in that can you make sure what we've lost today wasn't in vain. You understand?" Will asked.

Ed swallowed harshly, but nodded.

"Good. Your only goal is to meet Ben and help him burn that cabin. On your mark, Fullmetal."

Ed took a deep breath through his nose and nodded. "Three. Two. One. Go!"

They vaulted over the way Ed had constructed and charged towards the forest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Friendly reminder- I love and cherish every bit of feedback!


	8. Active Combat Part 2

**I'm so glad you guys are liking this! I'm loving each and every review. :)**

* * *

It was ironic Will was the one who told him to keep going no matter what, since Will was the first one to fall.

Will was on his right, slightly in front of him, rifle raised to provide cover. A shot rang out and a moment later, Will was on the grass just before the forest started, stone dead from a bullet through his skull. Ed stumbled but kept running.

"They're in the trees!" Someone shouted.

A mortar round hit the grass next to him and sent him flying. He blacked out for a moment- when he came to, he felt something warm and sticky dripping down his face. Blood, maybe? He couldn't tell- everything ached. He stumbled to his feet to come face to face with a knife-wielding man in a mustard colored uniform bearing down on him. He blocked the blow with his automail hand, going on autopilot and punching the man in the chest. The knife grazed his cheek, and somehow he'd found the space to step back and clap, transmuting his arm into a blade.

The man snarled at him with such a feral look in his eyes, and Ed realized in that moment the man was going to kill him. But a rifle shot sounded a moment later, and the man dropped to the ground, a bullet between his eyes.

"Fullmetal- get to the cabin!" Patrick shouted from behind him.

Ed could see the cabin twenty feet in the distance.

He clapped his hands together, placing them on the ground. It sent a stabbing pain up his flesh arm, but he was too high on adrenaline to give it much thought, transmuting a rock platform that rose from the ground and carried him all the way to the foot of the cabin, where Ben had doused the corner in beer and was doing his best to light it on fire. A small flame had caught.

"Make it burn faster, Fullmetal!" Ben dropped down to one knee, leveling his rifle. "I'll cover you!"

Ed's endurance was starting to fail. The rock platform he'd made with alchemy crumbled only a moment after he'd stepped off it, and he stumbled to his knees, clapping his hands. A bit longer. Just a bit longer. Remember Colonel Bastard's Flame Alchemy array. Call the oxygen to the flame...

It took intense focus- his head was absolutely throbbing. But over the sounds of combat and the whistling of mortar shells in the background, Ed was rewarded with the crackling of flame as the fire grew from one tongue to two, until it'd engulfed nearly the entire wall of the cabin.

Ed was confident if he stopped his alchemy it'd still continue to burn to the ground, but he kept calling the oxygen anyways, kept going... Their whole objective was to destroy this outpost. He had to be sure.

"Keep going Fullmetal, I'm right here!" Ben yelled over the crackling of the blaze.

"I've got your back too, kid!" Kenny's voice shouted in the distance.

There was a flash- a shot went off- and Ed was torn from his concentration by wet gurgling. Ben was laying at his feet, a bullet through his chest.

"Fuck... Ben!" Ed clapped his hands, bringing up an earthen wall to shield him and crawling over to the man, who was twitching and writhing, coughing up alarming amounts of crimson.

Ed pulled the man's torso into his lap, looking at the man's chest frantically. What did he do? What could he do? There was too much blood, so much blood...

"Don't... worry about it... kid." Ben rasped. "It's not... your fault."

He'd placed his hands on the wound, he was holding direct pressure, but the blood wasn't stopping, why wasn't it stopping!?

I don't know what to do, I'm so sorry, I don't know what to do...

He didn't realize he'd even been saying anything out loud until Ben reached up and touched Ed's bloodstained hand with his own filthy one. "It's alright, Ed." his voice was barely above a whisper. His lips were pale, he looked almost bloodless.

Ben reached a trembling hand into his pocket, grabbing his pack of cigarettes and pressing it into Ed's shaking hand. "I don't need them... you have 'em." He gave a barking laugh that brought up as much blood as it did sound, and looked Ed dead in the eyes. "And they always told me smoking was going to kill me." he rasped. And then, he was silent. He died like that, covered in blood in Ed's arms, with that sarcastic smile still on his face.

Ed looked down- through his blurry vision he held the pack of cigarettes in his bloody hand, and he tucked it into his pocket, trying to calm the urge to simply lay down and sob.

"Fullmetal!"

Ed heard Kenny's voice in the distance. He didn't want to leave, didn't want to leave Ben just lying there, but he crawled out from beneath the small earthen defense he'd created, finding Kenny standing in the clearing with his rifle as the cabin was consumed by fire.

"Fullmetal, I- shit!" Kenny ran towards him, looking alarmed. Ed looked down to realize he was covered in Ben's blood.

"Are you hurt?"

"No... Ben..." he managed to choke out, and Kenny saw the tears streaming down his face and understood.

"Did you find him, Kenny!?" Patrick clamored through the brush a moment later, looking at Ed's trembling, bloody form with a mixture of relief and sorrow.

"Arthur took a bunch of shrapnel to the leg- I hid him in some brush, he's waiting- waiting on us. He said Mark is coming to meet us soon."

Mark stumbled into the clearing a moment later, one of his sleeves heavily stained red with blood.

"It's fine- I got a tourniquet on it." he brushed them off, looking at Edward expectantly.

"There are at least three men left. I saw them take off running out the back door of the cabin. Everyone is probably going to regroup at the mortar, it has to be around here somewhere..."

And then their world exploded again.

When Ed came to, it was to Arthur and Patrick yelling.

His head was swimming...

"We have to move, they're calling a mortar strike on their cabin! They're gonna blow us to hell!" Ed was being dragged by his automail arm. He sluggishly kicked out, managed to get to his feet and stumble along after his friends- all that was left fo the squad was Patrick and Arthur, he tripped on pieces of Kenny trying to get away from the cabin, and then the entire thing was blown to hell.

They fell into a small dip, and Ed clapped his hands, making a small hole in the ground- a foxhole, really- for him, Arthur and Patrick.

"Damn that mortar!" Patrick was shouting. Ed could hear the shells whistling- everything hurt- he turned and spit blood into the dirt beside him.

Arthur was in tears, clutching his backpack radio like his life depended on it.

And then Ed looked up and saw the man in the mustard colored uniform about to dive into their foxhole with a knife, and he launched himself forward.

He'd only planned to punch the man. Really. He'd just want to knock the bastard out. But somewhere along the line he forgot his automail had been in it's blade form, and he ended up stabbing the man through the chest.

There they were- three soldiers and a dead man camped out in a foxhole.

"Fuck fuck fuck! What the hell, Arthur, you need to stop hyperventilating! Please!" Patrick begged as he tried to hold pressure on the shrapnel in Arthur's leg and keep the soldier from panicking.

Ed looked down at his bloodstained automail, Patrick and Arthur. All that was left of his squad. The weight of what he had to do outweighed his fear of doing it, and he stood.

"Fullmetal- what the hell..."

"I'm ending this. I'm going to destroy that damn mortar."

"There's still at least three insurgents running around, Kenny said..." Patrick looked at him in disbelief.

"Two, actually." Ed nodded to the dead man in their foxhole. "I have to finish this. You stay here with Arthur and the radio, I'll come back when I'm done..." Ed was already starting to clamor out of the foxhole.

"Fullmetal- if you're lying to me- I'll come find you and beat your ass myself. You come back, dammit!" Patrick shouted.

Ed gave him a mock salute before he was standing, heading deeper into the forest.

Ed stumbled onward. He knew mortars had a relatively short range- Mark has said in insurgents fled out the back door of the cabin, and they hadn't made much effort to cover their trail. He followed the stomped on brush and broken branches as best as his blurring vision would allow him.

It had to be less than a mile. But his flesh arm was throbbing, and his head really hurt. He couldn't stop, though, he reminded himself.

He couldn't. Every time he closed his eyes and wanted to fall over, he remembered. Leonard's disembodied arm. Frank- lying dead in the field. Ben- dying in his arms. Ron- left lying in the dry creek bed, wrapped in bandages, half dead.

No- he couldn't rest. Wouldn't rest.

He caught sight of a flash of metal in distance.

There- like a more angular cannon, sat the mortar, atop the ridge.

A dead man beside it, in a crimson stained yellow uniform.

Ed stumbled over to it. He wasn't sure if he'd have the energy to deconstruct it fully and drag himself back into the field.

Luckily, the dead man clutched a belt of grenades. He grabbed them, dropping a shell into the mortar backwards and pulling the pin on two grenades, dropping them in on top. The force from such a blast would surely destroy everything in a twenty foot radius of the mortar.

He turned, starting to stumble away.

Except he tripped because the damn ground kept moving behind him- and then there was a blast that threw him off his feet.

He landed face to the dirt, too dizzy to get up.

For some reason, Colonel Yuel's words came to the front of his mind at this moment. He'd given Edward a look that Ed hadn't been able to read before he'd left with Colonel Draper- but for some reason, in the dulling spark of consciousness now, he could recognize it as a look laced with regret and sadness.

_Take care of yourself, Fullmetal. It's a dangerous world out there._

_Huh. I failed at that, too._ He thought to himself.

And then, blackness mercifully took him away.

* * *

**What part traumatized you the most so far?**


	9. He's not late- he might not come back

When Fullmetal didn't get in last night, Roy figured the inspection had probably run too long and the boy had missed the last train out. When Fullmetal hadn't come in to give his report by noon the next day, Roy figured the boy was taking his time just to piss him off.

By three pm, it was nearly driving him to distraction.

"What about that conflict that's happening on the Cretan Boarder, Sir? We got a few reports about it this morning." Furey piped up from where he'd been manning the radios.

Roy continued to tap his pen, irritated. "That shouldn't have anything to do with Fullmetal. I sent him to Axhocal- it's two hours out of the way from there- he's probably just taking his time getting here to piss me off."

"Have you thought about calling Axhocal, Sir?" Hawkeye asked.

"That's a good idea, actually." Roy picked up the phone and tried the number for Axhocal. He was met with a busy signal and frowned. "Line's busy. I swear, I'm gonna wring that Brat's neck when he gets here..."

At four thirty four pm, the phone rang.

"Mustang here." Mustang answered, tone clipped.

_"Colonel Mustang- this is Lieutenant Colonel Yuel, from Axhocal. I'm sorry it's taken me so long to get a hold of you... we've been calling around all day trying to get your phone number."_

That explained the busy phone line earlier, Roy thought to himself.

"It's alright, I guess. So- is Fullmetal done with his inspection? What's holding him up?" he couldn't keep the interest from his voice. "As far as I'm concerned, he should've been back at the very latest by this morning."

There was a hesitation on the other end that made Roy think the man was hiding something.

_"There's no easy way to say this, Sir. Ed missed the last train out last night. We tried to keep him in the dark about the issues on the Cretan Boarder- our plan was to get him on the earliest train this morning. But at 11pm last night, a Colonel showed up from the Cretan Boarder, saying he was in desperate need of an alchemist to help prevent a war. Edward went with him."_

Edward had been known to play practical jokes, but this wasn't funny. "Look, if Ed's being an ass again and trying to play a joke, tell him he's very funny and put his ass on the next train back to Central."

_"It's not a joke, Sir."_

Roy sat up a little straighter in his chair. "So you're telling me some random Colonel came in the dead of night and took my _fourteen year old state alchemist_ and recruited him for an _active combat mission!?"_ His voice was rising, and everyone in the office had stopped what they were doing to stare at him.

_"Yes, Sir. I'm sorry, Sir. There was nothing I could do- the man outranked me. I told Edward to look out for himself and be careful, but his ranking as a state alchemist precedes his age..."_

"His name." Roy said flatly.

_"I'm sorry, Sir?"_

"His name! Give me the name of the Colonel that came and took Edward!" Roy thundered.

 _"Of course, of course..."_ there was the frantic sound of paper rustling, then, before the man replied. _"Colonel Draper of Cretan Boarder outpost 339."_

"Thanks. Listen- news is slow to reach Central about what's going on with the Cretan boarder conflict. You're closer than us, you have more information- what's going on out there?"

_"We're getting live radio updates. Last I heard, Major Elric's squad was deployed at 12pm to neutralize the Cretan strike force."_

"He's _commanding a squad!?_ He's _fourteen,_ he's never even _seen_ combat before!" Roy stood up so fast he'd nearly knocked over his chair. Everyone in the office was now staring at Roy with unmasked concern on their faces, and Roy took a deep breath, trying to steady himself.

 _"I feel quite similarly about the matter, Colonel Mustang."_ Lieutenant Colonel Yuel confirmed. _"I'm sorry, sir."_

"Do you... is... is he alive?" Roy couldn't stop the way his voice shook slightly.

_"I wish I could tell you, Sir. We're all been gathered around the radio all day listening to try and find out. Heavy casualties is all they've said, none of the men have returned yet... If I were the boy's commanding officer, Sir, I would get on a train and get to the outpost asap, because... things aren't looking promising."_

"Right. Of course." Roy was trying to regulate his breathing, but he was having a hard time of it.

_"The whole town of Axhocal is rooting for the boy, Sir. If I hear anything on the radio- anything at all- I will call this number as soon as I do."_

"Right. Thank you. I need to go." Roy hung up the phone to see the entire office staring at him.

"Edward was picked up from Axhocal and sent into the Cretan boarder dispute as commander of a squadron. I don't know anything else." he snapped, trying to calm the panic swirling within his chest.

"Lieutenant- I need someone to stay all night to man this phone. If Axhocal gets any updates, they'll be calling. Falman- I need you to take over my duties tomorrow. I'll be taking the next train out to the Cretan boarder..." he grabbed his coat off the coat rack, heading for the door.

He'd missed the last train for the night going West. He ended up heading back to the office and spent the night pacing. He was tempted to break out the hard liquor, but he needed to keep a clear head- they all did.

The rest of the team stayed with him late into the night.


	10. News

**Well, that was faster than I thought. But as promised, here it is. :)**

* * *

In the foxhole, Patrick looked up as he heard the blast, grinning. "That crazy son of a bitch did it."

Aruthur picked up the radio with shaking hands, relaying the news.

They both waited in silent until the sttic crackled back their orders.

_Withdraw immediately. We're launching artillery strikes wipe out any remaining insurgents. If you aren't on the other side of the creekbed in twenty minutes, you'll be eliminated as well._

"Twenty minutes. That's not a lot of time." Arthur got to his feet, struggling to stand on with his lower right calf bound and full of shrapnel.

"What about Fullmetal?" Patrick stood, looking over at where the explosion had come from with trepidation. "He was pretty beat up when he left. What if he's stuck out there- he'll get caught up in it."

Arthur bit his lip but said nothing.

"Arthur- can you get back on your own?" Patrick handed him a broken stick of wood to use as a crutch.

"I think so, but what are you going to do?"

"I'm going to find Fullmetal. He's alive- I know it. You get across the creek bed and buy me as much time as you can to hold off the artillery barrage."

"You're never gonna make it."

"Probably not- but I can't live with myself unless I try." Patrick stood, taking off through the woods.

* * *

Someone was leaving a blood trail through the woods. Patrick couldn't be sure if it was Edward or someone else- but looking back it was probably Edward.

Patrick had a bullet in his upper left arm, but it'd been a clean injury- in and out. It stung, but it was okay- as long as he kept moving, he didn't think about it. He was too busy feeling hsi muscles burning from exhaustion.

He caught a glimpse of red fabric on the hill ahead and quickened his pace.

"Fullmetal!" he called, but he got no reply. He sank down to his knees, shaking Ed, though he got no response. There was a lot of blood- Patrick wasn;t even sure if it was Ed's or not.

"Shit, you really got yourself into some kind of mess this time." Patrick said, tapping Ed's cheek. Still, nothing. He sighed. He was going to have to carry the kid out of here.

Something plowed into him from behind, sending him tumbling head over heels down the ridge. His leg was caught between a fork in a tree trunk, but he kept falling- there was a snap, and a scream was torn from his mouth before someone was on him.

A man in a crimson stained yellow uniform held a knife to his throat, and the only thing stopping him was Patrick's hand on his wrist pushing back.

The man was screaming obscenities in his language, and Patrick couldn't help himself- he glanced up the hill to see Fullmetal still hadn't moved.

The man saw his gaze and smirked, gesturing with his knife. "First you. Then... alchemiz." he muttered.

"Go to hell you bastard!" he grabbed the nearest thing to him- a rock that was the side of two fists- and slammed it into the side of the man's head.

The man fell off him, and Patrick twisted, getting on top of the man. Some sort of animistic rage overtook him, and by the time he was finished, the man's skull wasn't really recognizable.

He tried to get his feet under him, only to feel a blinding pain in his left ankle. "Oh fuck." something was broken. He stumbled up the hill anyways, cursing the whole time. "Fullmetal- buddy- we gotta go!" only Ed was still. Ghost white pale, not responsive.

They only had twenty minutes before the artillery fire came. Patrick bit his lip, looking down at his own injured leg. He swore, grabbing a sturdy looking branch to use as a crutch and throwing Ed's slumped body over his other shoulder, ditching his backpack.

"Fuck it. Live or die, we're gonna be doing it together, Fullmetal, you hear me!? We got this far-" he took two shuddering steps- the white hot pain in his leg kept him grounded and sent another rush of adrenaline through his body, giving him the strength to keep going. "We didn't come this far to die."

* * *

"I repeat, DO NOT, I SAID DO NOT, FUCKING FIRE THE GODDAMN ARTILLERY STRIKE!" Arthur, the mild manner communications private, had turned into some sort of drill seargent. He sat in the dry creek bed with a slightly injured Percy and an unconscious Ron, still wrapped in blankets.

"I don't give a _flying fuck_ what your commanding officer said, you fire that artillery strike and you're killing a MOTHERFUCKING STATE ALCHEMIST, YOU UNDERSTAND ME! YES, HE'S CONFIRMED ALIVE! HE'S INJURED, HE AND ANOTHER SOLDIER ARE STILL TREKKING OUT! YOU WANNA TELL THE FURHER YOU KILLED THE GODDAMN MOTHERFUCKING FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST, THEN GO AHEAD, BOMBS AWAY! BUT OTHERWISE, I SUGGEST YOU SIT DOWN AND THINK ABOUT YOUR LIFE AND HOW YOU WANNA LIVE IT. BECAUSE THIS, THIS AIN'T IT, CHIEF! WE MUST'VE KILLED THIRTY CRETANS TODAY- THERE'S ONLY THREE OF OUR SQUAD LEFT. IF YOU WANNA TELL THE COLONEL YOU KILLED ANOTHER TWO, I WILL SHOOT YOU MYSELF!"

Arthur was nearly purple with rage.

There was still more hemming and hawing from the radio.

"Let me put it this way." Arthur said simply, his voice hoarse from screaming. "If you fire that airstrike before my boys are back here, then I will personally call Roy Mustang, the FLAME ALCHEMIST, and tell them exactly who fired that strike, and your ass will be _grass,_ understand that homeboy!? You call your superior up and tell him it ain't happening, because if you don't I will kick you in the nuts so hard you will _never_ have children." He threw the radio reciever aside, exhaling.

"Not going well, I take it?" Percy asked from where he sat beside the injured Ron, who'd been wrapped in a space blanket.

"I've had better days, to be honest. You wanna take a turn yelling at them?" Arthur offered the reciever to Percy, who shook his head. "I'm good."

"How's Ron?"

Percy sighed, looking at hsi injured teammate. "He's... he's not good, to be honest. Lost a good amount of blood and in shock, that shrapnel really got him good. But he's still here, so that's something."

Arthur grunted, pulling himself up on both good leg and bad and surveying the barren field of half-crumbled walls in front of them.

"Percy- Percy, I see them! They're in the woods, yes, yes, there they are!"

Percy was on his feet, vaulting the edge of the creek bed with rifle in hand and running towards the hobbling form of Patrick as Arthur dove for the radio.

"They're approaching the creek bed! The Fullmetal Alchemist and Patrick are alive, they're almost here! Hold back that strike for two more minutes, that's all they need is two minutes! Then we need a med evac pronto, Ron's half dead and Fullmetal isn't looking too good either, and my leg hurts like a bitch, but I'm fine."

Arthur watched as his comrades struggled the arduous hundred feet back to the creek bed- the walls proved to be the hardest obstacle- Patrick, injured himself, passed edward's slack form over the earthen walls, so useful to them during combat but so cumbersome now, before painfully climbing over himself and resuming the trek.

By the time Arthur helped pull all his comrades down into the creek bed to safety with him, they could already hear the whistling of the approaching amestrian artillery shells.

"Shit, Fullmetal-"

"He won't wake up. I think he hit his head, but he's alive." Patrick managed. He cast a glance over at Ron, who wasn't moving. "How's he doing?"

"About as good as Fullmetal, to be honest. Let me see him." Percy laid Ed down gently, swearing as he tore open the first aid kit. "There's so much blood, I can't even tell where to start."

"It's not all his." Patrick said simply.

"Yeah, no shit. If it was he'd be dead already."

The radio crackled to life in Arthur's hands. "Hang tight. Med evac en route."

"Hear that Ron! You hear that Fullmetal! They're coming for us. We're going home!"

The rest of their celebration was drowned out as the field behind them exploded.

* * *

It wasn't until 1am when the phone rang- Roy snatched it off the hook, desperate for news.

"Hello?"

_"Mustang- it's Captain Julia from Axhocal, calling for Lieutenant Colonel Yuel. I got news. He's alive. But he's in bad shape. Including Fullmetal, only five boys made it out, and he's hurt badly... That's all I know."_

"Did they say what condition he's in? Anything?"

_"No. We got a brief amount of chatter on our long range scanner a few hours ago- someone screaming about holding off artillery strikes- they said your name, Colonel. Someone said that if they didn't hold off the artillery strikes, they would be responsible for killing the Fullmetal Alchemist and you would be told. I'm sorry I don't have more information."_

"Was he or was he not caught in the artillery strike?" Roy asked, pinching the bridge of his nose. Ed had already lost two limbs- how much more could the boy loose?

_"We don't think he was caught in the strike-"_

"Where is Lieutenant Colonel Yuel, Captain?"

_"He left an hour ago. We heard news of a field hospital being set up near the Cretan outpost- Edward made a large impact on our town, so he made the decision to drive the two hours down to try and see the boy for himself. He's going to call you once he arrives. He said someone should be with the boy until his commanding officer could get there."_

"Right. Thank you- thanks. Really."

_"Not a problem. I'm sorry I don't have more details for you, Sir. The entire town is rooting for him. Goodnight."_

"Goodnight."

Roy hung up the phone to be met with pairs of anxious eyes. "Fullmetal is alive. He's hurt, but he's alive. That's all I know. The Lieutenant Colonel Ed was doing the mine inspection for is driving down to try and see him- he's supposed to call in an hour or two." Roy grabbed his mug of coffee, which had long since gone cold, and took a long sip.

"I think it's best everyone goes home for now. We know he's alive, and more detailed information is coming down the line- the first train leaves at 7am tomorrow, and I'll be on it. I need you all to get some sleep so you're able to function in the office without me tomorrow."

Everyone seemed to slowly nod, gathering their things and heading for the door. Lieutenant Hawkeye remained behind, cocking her head at Roy quizzically. "And what about you, Sir? Will you be going home?"

"I'm waiting on Lieutenant Colonel Yuel's call. I'll be fine on my own, Lieutenant."

"Then you wouldn't mind getting a brief nap on the couch while I man the phones. You're traveling all day tomorrow, Sir- you need rest."

"You'll wake me when Yuel calls?"

"Of course, Sir."

After an hour and a half of restless sleep on the brown couch, Mustang was startled awake by the ringing of his phone. He stumbled over, taking it from the receiver.

"Hello?" he tried his best to shake the sleepiness from his voice.

There was a dry chuckle from the other end of the line.

_"You sound like I feel, Mustang. Fullmetal is in one piece- more or less. His arms are broken- both of them are, I think. The nurse told me he's snapped his radius and ulna clean through, he's in a cast. His metal arm is in bad shape too, there's wires and stuff hanging out. And his face- it's not pretty, sir. Nasty cut on the side of his head, a lot of bruising around his forehead and swelling. They're most worried about the concussion, though- the boy was caught in several blasts, he's had a lot of head trauma. He hasn't woken up yet. But he's stable. They think he's gonna make it."_

Roy let out a harsh sigh.

"Thank you, Lieutenant Colonel Yuel."

_"Please- call me Luke. We both spend enough time chasing after the same kid, making sure he's alright- it makes me feel like friends rather than coworkers. Listen, I have to get back to Axhocal- morning is coming sooner rather than later. Is there anything you want me to do before I leave?"_

"Just write a note. Leave a note that I'm on the next train out, in case he wakes up and I'm not there yet."

_"I'll do that. I might stop by in a few days- there's gonna be a lot of get-well gifts from Axhocal. Good night, Colonel Mustang."_

"Might as well call me Roy. It's not exactly office hours." Roy acquiesced. "Goodnight.".

It was a little past 4am.

Roy sighed. "I should go home. Pack a bag. Train leaves at 7." he stood, heading for the door with Hawkeye beside him.

"Of course, Sir. I'll be there to pick you up and take you to the train station at 6:30.".

* * *

**What was your favorite part of this chapter?**


	11. Reunion

The first thing he was aware of was pain. He was in the back of some sort of vehicle- he could feel each and every bump on the road they were on.

Hazy voices- he could see people exchanging things, gloved hands and glass bottles. He could smell the antiseptic.

Someone touched his arm- his flesh arm- and a white hot spike of agony made hit vision fuzz out with black dots for a moment, and the nausea hit full force...

He didn't realize he'd been screaming until the voices cut in above the pain.

"Fullmetal- Fullmetal, stay still!" Patrick was trying to be heard over his yelling, attempting to pin him down by his wrists- both flesh and automail.

"Calm down Edward! It's us- you're safe!" Percy?

"It's alright, Fullmetal! We're with the medics!" a more distant voice. Arthur, he thought vaguely...

He tasted blood, but he was out of energy to keep fighting, and so he laid, chest heaving, staring up at the people above him in the dim light like a cornered squirrel.

"That's it, buddy. Come back to us." His vision was fuzzing out again, and the only thing he could really focus on was Patrick's face, Patrick's voice...

"You're hurt pretty bad, Fullmetal. Just lay still. Relax."

Ed swallowed, letting his eyes fall closed as he tried to do what he was told. His automail didn't feel right- he could hardly move it- it was sluggish to repost to his commands, and he couldn't even close his metal hand all the way. It hardly twitched at his command.

"P-Pat?" he said hoarsely, waiting for the world to come back into focus around him and his vision to stop rolling like ocean waves. "You okay?" he nearly didn't recognize his own voice.

"I'm fine, buddy. You and Ron are in the worst shape here." Pat reassured him. Ed craned his head, trying to see everyone around him, but he soon gave up- it was night, now, too dark to see much more than shadows in the back of the truck.

There was a prick in his flesh arm- Ed tried to look over, but he couldn't see, and suddenly he was warm and dizzy.

"It's alright, Fullmetal." someone was speaking that Ed didn't recognize. A medic, probably.

Ed's automail arm locked up against his own will- he tried to say something, to tell someone what was going on- but his tongue was like molten glass in his mouth- he could feel it and move it, but words were lost to him.

Electricity starting at his wrist shot up his entire forearm. It was nearly as blinding as the pain of reconnecting the nerves to his automail, and he let out an inhuman howl. Another needle was plunged into his flesh shoulder and depressed, and blackness dragged him under.

* * *

Roy Mustang got off the train at outpost 339 at 1pm. His suitcase in one gloved hand and the other tucked in his pocket, his entire demeanor belied that he was thoroughly pissed off- a man on the edge. He was NOT in the mood to be trifled with.

Despite how small and remote the base was, there was a surprising amount of soldiers milling about- privates and sergeants, mostly, young men, fresh from basic. He could see at least thirty.

Eyes followed him, and he strode over to the nearest group of them- three men, none of whom were over twenty, in their cargo paints and t-shirts.

"Listen carefully, because I'm only going to ask this once. Where is Edward Elric, and who is the commanding officer of this godforsaken outpost?"

The two largest soldiers seemed to freeze up- they saw the rank pins on his chest and the chain of a state alchemist's pocket watch on his belt. The smallest of the privates, a young man with a brown buzzcut, was the only one not thrown for a loop.

"Private Eric Dunham, Sir! The Fullmetal Alchemist arrived in the middle of the night last night- I helped carry his litter to the field hospital, Sir!"

Roy paused for a brief moment- Ed had been carried. He really was badly hurt.

He shook off the feeling, letting his military training take over, his constantly whirling thoughts a snake that coiled around his slowly fracturing heart, holding it together.

"Take me to him."

"Yes Sir!"

Roy fell into step beside the private. The outpost was small, and all eyes of the enlisted men followed the two as they walked- Colonel Mustang, the legendary flame alchemist, and some private nobody had ever heard of before.

They walked past the barracks and the commissary, to an old house at the very edge of the outpost. It's white paint was peeling, the wooden boards on the porch bowed, and the private carefully mounted the steps and held the door for Roy, who ducked in after him.

The first thing that hit Roy was the smell of antiseptic and the odor of illness. It was everywhere, it seemed. There was coughing on the bottom floor, nurses moving about, but the Private ignored them all, mounting a dim and narrow staircase to the second floor and motioning for Roy to follow.

"The ones who made it back were in bad shape. The nurses put them up here so they'd finally get some quiet." he explained.

He led Roy down the hallway to the third room with an open door.

On the bed, nearly as pale as the sheets he laid on, was Edward Elric.

Roy couldn't hide the wince on his face as he looked at the boy, quickening his pace and crossing the room in two strides to be at his beside. Ed had a large bandage wrapped around his head- there was blood and dirt in his golden locks of hair, which hung around him in disarray. Roy could trace the ugly bruising from his left temple to his cheek. There was a nasty cut on his forehead that'd been bandaged, covered with gauze, and he was dressed in a crisp mint colored medical gown, covered in a thin sheet. On the bed beside him, his flesh arm was in a pristine white cast, held tightly to his chest with a sling. His automail arm was a mess- wires spilling out just before his elbow, the metal had been cracked and broken to expose the intricate inner workings.

Just past Ed's elbow, his forearm metal plate had been completely ripped off- the metal was dirty, and it vomited bloodstained wires onto the sheets, normally so pristine.

But what really baffled Roy was the large block of styrofoam covering where Ed's metal hand should be.

The private caught his confusion and cleared his throat, stepping forward. "Permission to speak, Sir?"

Roy shot the soldier- he was more of a boy than a soldier, if Roy was honest- a glance before he nodded. "Granted."

"When we brought him in, his metal arm was some kind of blade at the end. The nurses here haven't ever seen automail- they couldn't take his arm off, but they didn't want him waking up and being able to wave that knife around. So they stuck the blade in this Styrofoam block for everyone's safety."

Roy nodded, taking it all in.

There was an IV at the foot of the bed, with bags of medicine hung- Ed didn't have any hands that weren't made of metal or casted, and Roy realized they'd started the IV in his flesh foot instead.

"How long has he been like this?" Roy shot the young soldier a glance.

"Since midnight, about. He was half conscious when they brought him in. He kept screaming- they got him on a morphine drip so he could finally sleep. He's been out cold ever since." the private said matter-of-factly.

Roy nodded slowly, taking in the scene. He turned to the private. "Who the hell is the commanding officer here?"

"Colonel Peter Draper, Sir."

"Dismissed, Private." Roy said coldly.

The private snapped off a salute before turning and leaving them alone in the room.

Roy sighed- he glanced at Ed, who didn't appear to be waking up anytime soon. He pulled up a rather beaten up wooden chair and sat it beside the bed, taking a seat. He was probably going to be here for awhile.

He glanced around the room- there was a sparse night table and some gauzey curtains on a window, but overall, it was dim and quiet here. Too quiet.

Roy looked over to see Edward was still sleeping peacefully, though his face was in a slightly pinched expression.

"I'm here, Fullmetal." his baritone voice seemed to fill the small room.

Ed wiggled beneath the covers before settling and laying still, expression evening out slightly.

It had to be about an hour later when Roy looked over to see Ed's eyes were open. Glassy golden orbs stared up at the ceiling listlessly.

"Edward?" his voice was so soft, it was like Ed didn't even hear him.

"Fullmetal?" he asked, a little louder.

Ed blinked, turning his head to look at him. His eyes seemed to clear for a moment- Roy saw the boy's apathy turn to relief, and his lips twitched into a small smile when he saw Roy.

Roy wasn't used to this Edward. So small, so quiet, so... unguarded. He looked over at Roy and didn't say a word, though Roy could tell just from his energy that the boy was very glad to see a familiar face. He was glad too, he realized- something in his chest ahd warmed when the boy looked voer at him and smiled. Was this what it felt like... No, he couldn't be thinking of such things right now.

Roy scooted his chair closer to the bed. "How are you feeling?" he asked.

Ed looked down at himself for a moment, brows furrowing in confusion- he saw his flesh arm in a sling, his automail arm nearly in pieces, and the large foam block that covered his automail arm blade, looking at it in bewilderment.

He looked at Roy, as though he hadn't heard the question.

"... _water?"_ he rasped hopefully.

"I'll get you some." Roy assured him, getting to his feet and finding a small bathroom. He managed to find a chipped, dusty mug in the medicine cabinet, and he rinsed it out three times before filling it with tap water and ducking back into the room.

Ed peered up at him from his pillow, eyes watching his every move hopefully.

Roy went to hand him the mug, only to realize Ed didn't really have any usable hands- the kid's automail arm was a wreck, and judging by how out of it he was from the pain meds, he wasn't really feeling up to moving his casted flesh arm either, since he made no move to take the mug, craning his neck towards it despondently.

"You probably can't sit up, can you?" Roy asked himself more than Edward, leaning downward. He placed one hand behind Edward's head, lifting the boy as much as he could, and his other hand held the mug of water to the boy's lips.

Ed drank like he hadn't had water in days, some water dribbling down the side of his face. Roy snagged a corner of the bed sheet and wiped Ed's face, settling Ed's head back down on the pillow and setting the mug on the nightstand.

"I... I got your report." Ed managed, voice still hoarse but not nearly as painful sounding.

"It's on the table." he nodded to the envelope on the table marked 'Edward' in a spidery hand.

Roy picked up the envelope, wondering how Ed had managed to write it, much less place it in an envelope, with no working arms.

He peeled it open, wondering what he'd find.

_"Fullmetal,_

_Sorry to see you're not doing well. I stopped by but you were asleep. I've spoken to your commanding officer, Colonel Mustang- he is on the next train down to come see you. The number for our office in Axhocal is 553-719-8308. Call anytime- if you need something, we'll do our best to get it to you. The entire town is looking forward to you getting better and coming to visit again._

_Sincerely,_

_Lieutenant_ _Colonel Yuel"_

Roy chuckled to himself. That was not, in fact, a report. It was just the note he'd asked Colonel Yuel to leave for Edward in case the boy had woken up before he'd arrived. He placed it back into the envelope, setting it aside and looking over to find Ed's eyes had drifted closed again and he was asleep.

A nurse strode into the room, taking in the scene and the newcomer sitting besides Ed's bed, and nodded to him.

"How is he?" Roy asked.

The nurse peered down at Edward, re-aligning the blankets and sighing before she looked at Roy. "Not very good, I'm afraid."

"What's wrong with him?"

The nurse bit her lip. "Well... I'm most worried about his concussion. His consciousness is quite... unsteady, right now. When he came in, he was in and out of consciousness, but he wouldn't stop screaming- we've had to get him on quite a high dose of morphine to stop the pain. Arm badly broken, besides that, and four stitches on the gash above his eyebrow. Bruised ribs and another twelve stitches on his flesh leg."

The nurse peeled back the crisp white sheet, moving to change the dressing on Ed's leg.

"The doctor was most concerned with internal bleeding, though. His pain alternates between well managed to out of control- they're concerned he's damaged something internally we don't know about."

Roy sat up a little straighter. "Have they done anything to figure out what it is yet?" he looked down at the boy on the bed in a mix of horror and awe. Ed might have internal bleeding or any unknown number of terrible injuries, but they didn't know it yet.

The nurse shook her head. "We don't have much equipment out here. The doctors have been having us watch him closely all night- any deterioration in his condition and they'd have pulled him in for exploratory surgery to try and correct it. But as of now, we're waiting and watching. His blood pressure and heart rate are strong."

"Can we transfer him somewhere with more equipment?" Roy asked hopefully.

The nurse gave him a sad smile and shook her head. "Trust me, I'd like to... but he's in no shape to survive the trip. It's up to Edward what happens now. He and that other soldier are both touch and go at the moment. I'd say he's out of the woods, but I have a bad feeling about his pain and how it comes and goes..."

There was rustling in the sheets. Edward's eyes were open again, his face etched with pain. Sweat beaded on his brow, and despite the fact he had no arms, he looked around anxiously, eyes landing on Roy.

"It's happening again." he said quietly.

"What's happening again?" Roy sat forward, looking Ed up and down anxiously.

"They're tearing my arm off again." Ed said seriously.

"Sweetie, no, your arm is right here, see?" the nurse pointed out his casted flesh arm helpfully.

Ed tried to shake his head but winced, face scrunching with pain. "Y-you don't understand. It's not that one." his automail arm seemed to lock up on him, and he looked at Roy desperately. "Please, make it sto- _augh!"_ Ed went rigid, back arching as an inhuman scream was torn from his throat.

Roy could do nothing but stare in alarm. A moment later, Ed was panting and sweating on the bed, looking at Roy nervously. "H-have to take it off." he muttered, looking at his automail arm sadly. "It's broken."

To Roy's horror, he saw sparks arc up the exposed wires on Ed's automail arm and smelled the static.

"He... he can _feel_ his metal arm still!?" The nurse looked near ashen at the realization.

Roy nodded, quickly crossing to the other side of the bed to get a look at Ed's automail arm. "It's connected to his nerves, of course he can feel it." he muttered to himself, cursing his own stupidity for not thinking of it sooner. He looked over at the nurse, frowning. Clearly the nurses and doctors here weren't familiar with automail- hell, neither was Roy. But the way Ed was wilting on the bed sheets, he knew he had to do something to disconnect it or Ed was going to have to be given enough pain medication to knock out a rhino.

"Get me any tools you have. Wrenches, screwdrivers, pliers- everything." Roy ordered the nurse, dark eyes serious. The woman nodded, before she was turning and fleeing the room.

Roy was left alone with Ed, who was still trying to catch his breath. Roy knew automail wasn't pleasant, but he'd never even considered the possibility it could malfunction and electrocute the boy. It had to be excruciating.

"Edward." Roy placed his hand atop the boy's bandaged head, being careful. Ed's eyes were already half-lidded from exhaustion, he was trying to keep the boy awake.

The nurse bustled in with two or three other nurses on her heels, each holding a tool of some sort in hand.

"I've seen Winry reconnect it, but I need you to tell me how to take it off, Ed." Roy said, feeling slightly lost.

Ed gave him a glassy look, turning towards his automail shoulder... "U-unscrew the two screws on the outside. T...take off the plate." he managed to get out.

Roy did as he was told, prying off the metal plates and discarding them on the floor.

Ed's automail fingers twitched, and his eyes widened for a moment. "Don't touch it." he looked over at Roy desperately, and Roy pulled back from working on the boy's arm.

Roy wasn't touching Ed's arm, and he was about to ask why when a blue bolt of electricity arced up the now exposed innerworkings and Ed howled, squeezing his eyes shut.

Roy was looking at a two inch metal rod that served as the framework of the arm, surrounded by wire and components.

"Fullmetal? You with me?"

Ed still hadn't opened his eyes. He was panting and sweating from the strain of it all. "B-bolt..." he muttered.

Roy looked down. There was a bolt on the main metal rod, and he set to work undoing it, casting it to the side.

"Now what?"

"Twist the rod ninety degrees left." Ed's fingers twitched again, and he inhaled sharply, but no shock followed, and he let out a quick sigh of relief.

Roy did as he was told, turning the metal rod. He felt something disengage- Ed let out a harsh breath, turning to look at him. "Levers. Both of them, at the same ti- _augh!_ " he went rigid and Roy jumped back as another electric shock hit him.

"Edward?"

" _God, just take it off! Please!"_ Ed begged hoarsely, sounding close to tears. Roy took that to mean the electricity had passed and dove forward, quickly locating both levers Ed was talking about. He knew these levers- he'd seen Ed stare at them with trepidation before Winry reconnected his nerves to the automail in the hospital.

He pulled both levers down at the same time- there was a metallic clunk, and Ed let out a sigh of relief as his automail arm popped out of the port, lying in a tangled mess of wires and fractured metal plates on the bed beside him.

Edward breathed a sigh of relief, letting his head flop back on the pillow and looking absolutely spent.

The nurses that'd gathered around the bed seemed to activate as Roy stepped back, one ducking forward and brushing the sheets and Ed's hospital gown aside, placing a syringe in his thigh.

Ed's eyes fluttered opened and he craned his neck to see what they were doing to him, looking mildly surprised.

"What are... _oh, fuck yes."_ Ed felt the heady sensation of warmth and morphine hitting him all at one, and he keened happily, letting out a 'mmm' followed by a happy sigh before going slack on the bed, feeling the remaining aches and spasms in his muscles left behind by the automail melt away as unconsciousness blissfully took him.

Roy shot the nurse an anxious glance, and she stepped forward and placed two fingers on Ed's neck and took a pulse, giving Roy a winning smile. "He's alright. We gave him more morphine. We weren't sure why he was awake and in so much pain last night. It makes sense it was his automail. Hopefully this will help him rest easy, and then we can taper down his pain medication over the next few hours since his arm isn't acting up anymore."

Roy nodded, trying not to be disturbed by how still Edward was. His eyes focused on Ed's chest, which still rose and fell steadily- the nurses did a variety of other checks. One of them handed the remains of Ed's metal arm to him. "His mechanic may want this back. Though the blade on the end might be problematic."

"He can transmute it back to normal when he's feeling better." Roy said simply, taking the metal limb. It was at least fifteen pounds, and Roy wondered how Ed managed to carry it all the time. He'd have to make room the limb in his suitcase.

The eldest nurse- a careworn woman of about forty- stepped forward, looking at Roy seriously. "When he wakes up, try to get him to eat something. He's certainly burnt a lot of calories- he hasn't had anything in about a day. We'll try him on some broth and something soft after. You will call us whenever he wakes up, Mr...?"

"Mustang. Colonel Roy Mustang."

The nurse's eyes widened. "A Colonel? Out here?"

Roy nodded to the boy on the bed. "My Major was taken on this mission without my consent." he said simply. The nurse nodded, eyes still wide, before they left him alone in the silence. Roy was left to trek back to his chair and slump down, exhausted by the day of travel and the sudden excitement, with Ed's automail arm still hanging limply in his grasp.


	12. Docile

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some Papa Roy here!

They settled into a false domestic haze once Ed's automail arm had been removed.

The nurses came by to wean back the morphine drip every hour or so, but even without the drugs, Ed slept like the dead. Roy had to check and make sure he was still breathing for his own sanity a few times.

Ed snuffled slightly and winced in his sleep, before his expression leveled out. It was the most movement Roy had seen from the boy in hours, and he settled himself back in his chair, resolute on waiting.

The fact that Ed was sleeping so soundly just showed how worn down he was, and how desperately his body needed the rest.

Roy still wasn't sure how he was going to deal with the commanding officer at this outpost. He had half a mind to go cremate the man wherever he stood for everything that'd happened. That man was responsible for everything- he'd lured Fullmetal out here into a war zone, and look at where it'd gotten the kid. Horribly injured, passed out in a bed in a dingy field hospital.

Still, Roy found it was hard to pull himself away from the boy long enough to go and make the bastard scream.

He was angry- so angry- at that damn colonel for taking advantage of Edward's naivety. He remember the night he'd spent waiting by the phone with his subordinates, desperate for news, not even sure if he'd ever see this boy _alive_ again, and the rage within him uncoiled like a serpent.

But just when he'd have half a mind to go and seek out the man who'd caused his family- his _team,_ he'd meant to think _team,_ of course- all this trouble, Ed would stir or shift around a bit in the bed, and Roy would be pulled right back into the moment.

He couldn't leave Edward alone like this.

 _What if he wakes up?_ he thought to himself.

He really wished the kid would wake up. It was unnerving, watching him be so still and quiet. It was the opposite of everything Fullmetal was. The smaller, immature part of him begged for him to just shake the boy awake, just so he could maybe get insulted or have a tidbit of profanity thrown his way in response.

But then his gaze would settle on the small boy wrapped in the sheets, the pristine white cast and sling holding Ed's only arm firmly in place on his chest, and he'd push such childish thoughts aside and try to just be thankful Ed was resting comfortably.

And so somehow, the man who had a million ambitions to fulfill and a ladder to climb found himself halfway content whiling away the afternoon and early evening sitting in a hospital room, doing nothing.

The nurses made their rounds again- the bag of medication hung on Edward's IV pole was nearly empty, and the nurse nodded to him. "He should be waking up soon. There's some clear broth in the kitchen downstairs if he does- call one of us when he does, and we'll get him some."

Roy nodded. The nurses here were attractive, but he didn't even have the appetite for flirting at the moment, he was so wrapped up in the blond asleep on the bed.

The nurse ducked back out, and Edward's foot twitched. He'd been getting more active in his sleep as the pain medicine had been decreased. Roy quietly hoped that was a good thing.

Six o' clock at night came and went, and at seven it began to get dark. The nurses went around lighting candles, and it was just after one of them left that Ed started to blink and shift about.

Roy got up to go and tell the nurses Ed was awake, and he found himself fairly cornered in the hallway by one of the woman. A young strawberry blonde nurse with green eyes who seemed to sure of herself- she was pleasant and confident, even when Ed had been howling from the automail, and afterwards, she'd been the one to come first with morphine to help Ed settle.

"Oh good- I'll bring him some food. You can go to the mess and grab something to eat yourself. You look like you've seen better days, soldier." she said simply.

Roy frowned, opening his mouth to protest, but she wouldn't hear any of it.

He ended up finding the mess and choking down a plate of what they considered food before he walked straight back to the hospital, only to find the nurse from before had drastically changed her tune.

"I'm glad your back." she approached him, emerald eyes bright with concern when he strode back into the room. Instantly, he was on high alert.

"Is everything alright? Did something happen while I was gone?"

"Not exactly. But he won't eat. He just stares straight ahead- he needs to eat something. He won't recover if he doesn't. I left the bowl on his bedside table in case he decides to eat it. Encourage him, if you can?" she said hopefully. "I tried talking to him, but he wasn't interested."

Roy took what she was saying into account, trying to calm his nerves as he climbed the stairs back up to the second floor of the hospital. He could hear muffled crying from the other end of the hall, and he winced, before he was ducking back into Ed's room.

In the flickering candlelight, Ed laid on the bed, staring at the ceiling. He caught sight of Roy's shadow in the candlelight, and he moved his head- his eyes brightened with recognition for a moment before that was gone too, and he was just watching the Colonel pull up his chair, looking more like a doll than a person.

"Hungry?" Roy asked, hoping for some kind of response.

Ed just looked tired. Even though he'd just woken up, the dark circles under his eyes made him look like a raccoon.

Roy sighed. He didn't know what exactly Ed had been through, but he wasn't ready for... this. Whatever it was. This silence, apathy- the docile, passive person laying before him was nothing like Fullmetal. He was hurting- he told himself, trying to calm the panic inside at how... hollow... Ed seemed to be looking right at that moment. He was exhausted. He really hoped that explained how the boy seemed to look through him instead of at him. He tried to tell himself Ed needed time, but it didn't stop the feeling of ice cubes in his gut when he looked at Ed when he was like this.

He knew Ed was hungry. He hadn't eaten in a day, he normally had a voracious appetite. But he didn't even look at the soup bowl until Roy picked it up, and even when he did, there wasn't much interest on his face.

"I know you're hungry." Roy tried bating him. "If you don't eat you'll be short forever."

Ed blinked at him, looking for all the world like a cat- unbothered, unperturbed.

Roy's skin was starting to crawl. He was uncomfortable with this. All of it. He shouldn't be here- Ed shouldn't be injured- but he was, and they were here, and he had no idea how to proceed. Even if Ed had been coherent enough to feed himself at the moment, he didn't really have any hands to do so. His automail was gone, flesh arm in a cast and sling on his chest.

So Roy tried his best to shake off his discomfort at the eeriness of it all, though his unease still clung to his aura, and he picked up the spoon, filling it with some broth that was still slightly warm.

Ed watched him. Roy wordlessly held the spoon in front of the boy's mouth, and Ed blinked, eyes flickering to Roy in the glow of the candlelight- a question of trust flitting across his face- before he obediently opened his mouth and let Roy feed him.

Roy never thought he'd see himself spoon-feeding Ed when he was as docile as a kitten, but he soon grew accustomed to it. The only sound in the room was the scraping of the spoon on the bowl, and the silence was safe- it was comfortable. Roy couldn't fix everything, he couldn't ease Ed's pain- but he could spoon feed the kid until he was well enough to feed himself. He wound play nurse as best he could- he owed Ed that much.

"I hope this stuff is better than what they serve in the mess hall." Roy joked, mostly to fill the silence as he scooped up another spoonful of broth.

Ed said nothing, blinking at him in the candlelight, but Roy had shaken off the eerieness of his unnatural silence for now, instead focusing on just getting some food into the kid.

Roy managed to get half a bowl of broth into the kid before Edward closed his mouth and looked away, silently refusing anymore.

Roy took what he could get and set the bowl aside on the night table, sitting back. They relaxed in the silence for a few moments- the absence of sound, of thought. Just knowing they were here, in this dingy little room, together.

Ed's eyes shifted from thing to thing, though he didn't look like he was really all there. He'd stare into the corner of the room, then at the doorway, at the flickering candlelight- he blinked at the candle harshly several times, only watching it for a minute before he shifted his focus to the IV pole at the foot of the bed, and Roy wondered if staring at the light too long hurt his eyes.

Either way, Ed had been awake for a little over an hour, and exhaustion was starting to pull the kid back under. Roy could see it on his face.

"Edward." he waited until Ed fixed his glassy gaze on him for a moment, making sure the blond was listening.

"Is there anything hurting you? Anything I should tell the doctors and nurses?"

Ed gave a sloppy half shrug with his arm in a sling, and Roy sighed, standing and moving over to stand beside the bed.

"Geez kid, I've never seen you so quiet before. It's starting to freak me out a little bit. Nothing new hurting? You're feeling alright?"

Ed blinked at him before he was slowly nodding.

"Alright." Ed wasn't communicating with words, and the kid looked so battered- Roy let his walls down. Just for a minute. The kid needed someone to fuss over him and spoil him- needed some kind of affection, if he wasn't up to talking at the moment. Roy reached down, placing the entire palm of his hand on the top of Ed's head and twisting his wrist slightly- just gently ruffling the boy's blond locks. He was incredibly gentle- he knew Ed had a head injury, but the rest of the boy was too battered to hug and Roy wasn't sure he was brave enough to anyways.

He let his hand linger, a smile unconsciously tugging at his lips when Ed closed his eyes and leaned into the touch.

"Get some rest, Edward."

Even if he wasn't up for talking at the moment, Ed responded to physical touch well. He seemed to melt back into the pillows, relaxing at the human contact, and he gave a small hum of contentment in Roy's general direction as he settled in. Roy removed his hand thirty seconds later- he was pretty sure Ed was already out.

He fussed with the sheets, tucking them up by the boy's chin, and went to go hunt down the senior nurse in charge of everything.

* * *

"He's not talking."

"He spoke a little bit earlier, though. When you had to remove his arm. So we know he isn't brain damaged." the nurse replied matter-of-factly. Roy wondered if she was trying to be reassuring, because she was failing miserably.

"I understand that. I just... he's so apathetic. He says he's not in pain, but it's just so unlike him to be... silent. What medication is he on? Is he still on heavy painkillers?"

"He's been titrated down to a dose of morphine that's a quarter of what he was on. Enough to make him drowsy, probably. He's had a bad head injury, so I wouldn't be too alarmed at the moment. The silence might just be related to exhaustion. Mr. Elric was in a very trying situation- he went, nonstop, for hours in active combat. Even when he came back, his nerves were constantly being assaulted by electricity from his automail. We had to give him enough morphine to knock out a grown man to keep him under. Now that he's not in danger and everything is remedied, it's no surprise he's extremely spent."

"Edward's just... he's normally so active. He's argumentative, hell, I'd even say he's belligerent sometimes."

"I understand that, Colonel. That being said, the fact that the boy is quiet and lethargic doesn't constitute a medical emergency. I've been doing his vital checks myself- it's a wonder he's doing as well as he is, given the circumstances. Those boys went through hell, Colonel."

"So I've heard." Roy clenched his fists, trying not to let the rage rise up and take over. Ed was still to injured to be moved, and Roy needed to keep a clear head and look out for him, no matter how much he wanted to fry the commanding officer of this base.

The nurse stopped where she was readying a tray of medication, looking unimpressed. "Do you, now?"

"I don't know exactly everything that went down, but I have a good idea. They said heavy casualties on the radio..."

"Hearing something on the radio and seeing it in person are two different things, Colonel." the nurse said dismissively.

"I was in Ishval. I know what it means." Roy's voice was quieter than it normally was, like a bowstring stretched tight to the point of snapping. "Edward isn't exactly in a condition to tell me everything I need to know." he admitted, almost as an afterthought.

The nurse shifted to cleaning the various medical instruments, tossing them into a pile of boiling water in the kitchen.

"What do you know?" Roy asked, looking up at her. "Has anyone told you anything?"

The woman nodded slowly, starting to stir the boiling pot of instruments.

"They sent eleven men into no man's land, including Edward. Only four came back. One is still unconscious- we had to amputate his arm just above the elbow. Severe blood loss from shrapnel, his arm couldn't be saved. That man is still unconscious. Another with shrapnel in the leg bad enough he'll be lucky if he walks without a limp. One with a bullet to the arm and an ankle snapped so bad he should've been in shock by the time he got here. And one who needed stitches for a small cut and is currently drinking until he passes out behind the mess, because he's alright and his buddies are all either dead or in here." she said, blue eyes looking at him knowingly.

"What do you plan to do to the commanding officer of this outpost?" she'd grabbed tongs and was pulling the sterilized instruments from the pot of boiling water, stirring occasionally.

"What makes you think I'm going to do something to the man?"

"You've ignored making his acquaintance since you arrived here. Your only concern is for Edward. You told one of our nurses he was sent on this mission without your approval. Now look at the boy. It's obvious he was dragged into this without your permission."

"I haven't decided what my course of action will be yet, but I intend to at the very least have words with him." Roy managed sharply.

"What do you know about him?" the woman asked, turning off the stove burner and setting the pot to the side.

Roy resisted the urge to grit his teeth. "I know he drove hours out of his own way in the dead of night to convince my fourteen year old subordinate to join him on this devil's errand. Recruited Ed, despite his lack of experience."

The nurse nodded, moving aside, her ankle-length skirt swishing as she moved. "Yes. And I know that if he hadn't, those three men that came back with Edward would be dead. None of those men are in much shape to be talking- they don't want to, really- but from what they've said, Edward is the reason they are alive."

She looked up, her sapphire eyes meeting his charcoal ones straightforwardly as she spoke. "When they first brought Edward in, I thought he was a child who'd gotten caught in the fray. I never dreamed one single boy would be capable of destroying a military tank with his bare hands."

Roy tried to hide his surprise, but he couldn't. "Who told you this?"

"The boy who dragged Edward out of the woods after he collapsed. That boy should've been dead, too. He broke his ankle so badly he might never walk again. And he still decided to ditch his backpack and risk getting caught in an artillery strike carrying Fullmetal back to the line."

"What was the soldier's name? Is he upstairs?" Roy was eager to talk to anyone who knew what'd happened. If he couldn't get the story from Edward himself, maybe he could get it from someone else.

"Yes. And he's in no shape to be talking. He's just had five metal pins surgically placed in his ankle and he's in traction, woke up from anesthesia earlier today. He's on enough morphine to knock us both down, quite frankly. And the other one is too drunk to talk. Doubt he'll be able to- or want to- anyways."

"Why are you telling me all this?"

"Because as angry as you are with Colonel Draper, he isn't a heartless man. He was ordered to stay back- he retrieved Edward because he'd heard of the boy's reputation, and he knew that if his squad had a state alchemist with them, they had a fighting chance of coming back. He did the best he could to stop the war and protect his subordinates. Though it did come at the cost of Edward's health."

"I don't appreciate people commandeering my subordinates without my permission."

"Your subordinate is currently my patient, and if you want to be allowed near him you will behave yourself."

Roy paused. He was a Colonel. Would this... military nurse... even have the authority to throw him out of the field hospital? He was unsettled. She reminded him of Hawkeye, the way she looked at him like she could see every inch of him. She didn't have a gun, but he was willing to be she'd sneak up and knock him out with a syringe full of... something... if he pissed her off enough.

She seemed to read his mind. "I'm contracted by the military, Colonel- so your rank doesn't mean much to me. But I'm agreeable to keep you around- in fact, if you stay in line and don't do anything too rash, you might find an empty cot has been placed in Ed's room. And what a lucky coincidence that is- because you look like you're about to drop."

Roy blinked. How had he been outsmarted by a nurse? This woman could probably beat General Gruman at chess, and suddenly, he realized how the apparently business-like nurse had come to be the head nurse for the outpost.

"You might want to stay in line and not cause waves. At least until Edward is ready to travel. It's really better this way- for both your sakes. Rash actions taken in anger rarely benefit anyone. Goodnight, Colonel. Think about the type of man you want to be." and she was gone, off taking a tray of medicine to a coughing patient down the hall.

Roy paused, blinking, wondering what, in fact, had just happened.

He trudged upstairs towards Edward's room, only to find a man stumbling about the hallway like a fly scrabbling at a window.

Roy paused to watch the man- he had a black bowl cut and five o-clock shadow. He was fairly clinging to the doorframes and walls, using it to hold himself up. He was filthy, dressed in a soldier's uniform. Roy could smell cheap beer from where he stood five feet away from him. The man leaned against the wall, head down.

"I don't deserve it." the man muttered, and he turned, about to stumble away, only to run into Roy's chest and end up falling on his ass.

"Don't deserve what?"

The man, who was a drunken mess, looked up at him through his tears. "To be okay. All those guys- Will, he was a good guy. They all were. Mark was gonna get married. And me... why'd I get to be okay? Even some kid gave more for his country than I did..."

"You were there?"

The man nodded, sniffling, tears still streaming down his face. He was a man, but he couldn't have been over twenty. "I was a sniper. A damn coward. I saw them all go in that woods, and I came down from my position and found my buddy wrapped up half dead in the trench. I stayed with him. I stayed. I should've gone in the woods with the rest of them. Because hardly anybody came back out." and the man dissolved into tears.

Roy grabbed the man's hand, pulling him to his feet.

"I know what it's like to feel that shitty. Don't worry- the hangover tomorrow will distract you from the pain for a little while." he wondered just what the hell he was going to do with the man, who was drunk enough he probably didn't know his way back to the barracks, let alone which bunk was his.

Roy peered into Ed's room. There was the spare cot the head nurse had promised him.

_Goodnight, Colonel. Think about the type of man you want to be._

Roy sighed, dragging the drunken soldier into the room and settling him on the empty cot. Hughes had done this for him enough times- this must've been the universe's way for satisfying equivalent exchange.

"I know you're drunk, but please try to be quiet. Don't want you waking Fullmetal- he needs rest."

"Fullmetal?" the drunk soldier rolled over, craning his neck in the darkness to see the sleeping form of Ed. "Glad that kid made it out. He's too young to die."

Roy paused at the irony of it all- that a child like Fullmetal had been leading a squad of men like this.

The drunk man passed out pretty soon afterwards, and Roy was left to fall asleep in the chair beside Ed's bed.


End file.
